Group seeks to maintain legacy of International Harvester in Fort Wayne
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAs the city of Fort Wayne looks to its future in manufacturing and technology, a group of local residents is also trying to preserve a piece of the city’s manufacturing past.
Illinois-based International Harvester was Fort Wayne’s largest employer for decades and served as the heavy-duty truck capital of the world from 1923 to 1983, manufacturing more than one and a half million trucks.
“International Harvester became the number one truck manufacturer in the nation,” said longtime employee Jerry Betley. “We had at least 75 or 80% of the market.”
But like many industrial giants of its time, International Harvester would face its share of challenges. Economic downturns and changing consumer preferences would eventually take their toll on the company.
In the 1980s, the plant ceased operations, marking the end of an era for International Harvester in Fort Wayne and creating a somewhat bitter relationship between the city and the company.
“No one’s said anything about the Harvester history here because it was sort of a sad note that there was still bitterness,” said Ryan DuVall, a columnist for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
DuVall is the founder and CEO of Harvester Homecoming Inc., a not-for-profit designed to preserve the legacy of International Harvester’s presence in Fort Wayne.
DuVall, an enthusiast of the Scout—considered to be the first SUV created by International Harvester—established the organization and held a gathering of Harvester enthusiasts in 2019 that he said changed his life forever.
“I knew that enough time had passed that we should honor that history instead of remembering the bitter end,” he said. “We held a show and we hoped for maybe 200 trucks and 2,000 people, and we ended up with 600 trucks and 12,000 people in tears because there never had really been a celebration at all in this town for International since it closed and left. That got the ball rolling on this.”
Harvester Homecoming has since hosted numerous festivals and had created a makeshift museum at the former engineering building on the Harvester campus that now features over 65 original International Harvester trucks, Scouts and other memorabilia.
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(photo courtesy of Indiana Landmarks)
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(photo courtesy of Indiana Landmarks)
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(photo courtesy of Indiana Landmarks)
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(photo courtesy of Indiana Landmarks)
But the museum is not open to the public due to several challenges, DuVall said. He hoped the organization could buy the building, but those plans didn’t work out.
“The county now owns the building, and they don’t think it’s feasible for us to set up a museum in here, which is unfortunate,” he said. “We’re looking at other alternatives, and we have a really good opportunity to do something different. But the hard thing about that is that this is really where it needs to be.”
The International Harvester Engineering Building was named to the 10 Most Endangered List by Indiana Landmarks last year. The county acquired a parcel of land that includes the engineering building with plans to build a new jail on undeveloped land and use the building for county offices.
DuVall said he believes Indiana Landmarks would help preserve the building if Harvester Homecoming could acquire it.
“And that’s sort of the disappointing part of it is we can help preserve this building if we get a chance,” he said. “But if we’re not going to be given a chance, it’ll be a sad day when I have to take everything out of here and not know what’s going to happen to this building under the ownership of the county.”
A timeline for the not-for-profit to be required to move out of the property was not provided.
“But it’s not going to stop us,” DuVall said. “We’ll move on and do what we need to do.”
In the meantime, Harvester Homecoming is preparing for its next festival, which is scheduled for August. You can learn more about Harvester Homecoming by clicking here.