Historic Happenings: An American President, a National Plowing Match, and a group of Allamakee County farmers from Paint Rock
Paint Rock contingency travels to historical 1948 National Plowing Match in Dexter ... The photo above was recently discovered by the Harpers Ferry Area Heritage Society and pictures men and women from the Paint Rock area of Harpers Ferry who traveled to Dexter, IA in September of 1948 for a National Plowing Match, where President Harry Truman was the featured speaker and former Paint Rock area farmer Leo Foley plowed his way to a seventh-place finish among a regional group of competitors. Pictured in the photo above, and identified as best as possible through multiple sources are: Left to right - Front row (kneeling): Fred O’Riley, Ray Kelly, Clem Corrigan, Leo Livingston, Johnny Corcoran, Cleo Nicholson, and either Art Houlihan or Art Strub; Middle row (standing): Mary (Tracy) Foley, Regis and Francis (McCabe) Foley, Keith Clark, Lloyd Meehan, and John Heffern; Back row (sitting on tractor): Leo and Rose (Cota) Foley. Submitted photo.
Allamakee County farmer listed on the board ... The September 1948 National Plowing Match held at Dexter, IA not only featured plowing competition at its highest level but also included a speech delivered by President Harry Truman, who was seeking re-election in that year’s General Election and is pictured at the podium in the photo at left. A collection of Allamakee County Farmers from the Paint Rock area near Harpers Ferry made the five-plus hour trip to Dexter for the event, with Leo Foley competing and placing seventh in the national competition. Although perhaps difficult to read in the photo reprint, Foley’s name and listing as a participant from Allamakee County can be seen on the giant scoreboard in the photo at left, indicated by the black arrow at far left. Submitted photo.
by David M. Johnson
Usually there are not a whole lot of events at the local, city, or county level that attract national attention. Aside from something like a major fire that has recently happened at Agri Star in Postville, there is typically calm and little consternation in the neighborhoods of this local area.
Time is like constant rain and a strong wind; it comes and then moves on, and what happens that looks and seems important at the time will gradually fade from memory. The seemingly innocuous 1948 National Plowing Match at Dexter, IA is one of those events where, over time, it became a footnote, a blip or sidebar of history - until a recent local discovery of some photos by the Harpers Ferry Area Heritage Society.
The 1948 National Soil Conservation Field Days and Plowing Match in the little town of Dexter was, at the time, just a farming competition to both farmers from Iowa and farmers from the surrounding states. A competition where the horsepower of the numerous representatives of the different tractors available was contested; there were at least a dozen different companies at the time that built agricultural equipment during this time period.
The Soil Conservation Service had mapped out several farms in the area. Staff had measured and staked out ponds, dams, terraces and water ways. Demonstrations of the newest conservation techniques and practices were going to be introduced. Crop rotations, new seeds, and new conservation practices were coming into being during this time period of the late 1940s.
PART OF HARPERS FERRY HISTORY
This contest interested a group of farmers from the Harpers Ferry area and Paint Rock neighborhood who made a nearly five-hour trip to Dexter that September day in 1948. That five hours is measured considering today’s modern vehicles, and was likely something much more of an adventure 78 years ago, when the interstate and paved state highways were yet something of the future.
To read the full article, pick up the Wednesday, August 26, 2026 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.
