East Peoria Heritage Center

[mortontom]

Trisha reviewed some of the background in ACMOC Issue 87. Adding to that....Beginning in August 2001, concept discussions with E. Peo government started and included delegated ACMOC members in the quarterly meetings. Late 2007, E. Peo reached agreement with Cat for 88 acres for commercial site development which would include a "centerpiece tractor museum." In 2008, a developer was selected and several site committments have been realized.

Two weeks ago a ground breaking ceremony was held with dignitaries (rookie operators) using a new D6T pushing dirt around with the TV cameras and a 100 person crowd watching. It was exciting for me to see this event and hearing the enthusiastic speaches of < Dick Durbin, U.S. Senator; U.S. Rep Schock; 4 Illinois State Reps; Mayor Mingus and 6 other mayors; Cat Foundation President; and more>.

Most of the underground is already in and streets and 2 bridges on the perimeter are underway. The first commercial building should be built by mid-next year.

Current museum timeframe ????? Plenty of work to be done but this groundbreaking is proof that its coming.

[gauntjoh]

Hi Tom, Is there a website giving details of the development ?

[Chapter 3]

I think this is a great project and will serve to showcase our interest in old Caterpillar equipment and highlight the history of the company. One of the keys to ACMOC"s involvement in this project is to make sure we do not financially "bite off more than we can chew". We need to make sure that whatever commitments we make as an organization to the muesum we can continue into the future.

[tw]

There are updates everynow and then on the Peoria Journal Star.I read it on line about every other day.You all know that the Avery Tractor Company had its headquarters on what is now Hwy 29 in Peoria. The office building is still there. I plan on swinging by the site when we are down there in a couple of weeks to see what progress there has been done. My wife and I are planning on being down to the Spoon River Drive in October. Maybe the end of October also.
Terry

[dtallon]

Here are some pics from the ground breaking ceremony a couple weeks ago that Tom was mentioning. I don't think they had the article in the online version of the paper.

http://pjstar.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=25397989&event=829263&CategoryID=19355

I will say that driving by there every night on my way home, it is amazing the amount of progress they have made since getting some of the funding approved by the state in July. It's great to see a project that has sat stalled out so long finally making some progress.

Dave

[Tom Madden]

Jim:

Thanks for looking after the finances of the club. I absolutely agree that the financial committment of ACMOC should be VERY CONSERVATIVE.

Tom

[gauntjoh]

Great pictures, Dave. That D6T hadn't done much work before the ground breaking ceremony judging by the amount of paint on the blade ;)

I second Tom's thanks to Jim for looking after the club finances, and also express great caution about our club's financial involvement in such a project. It's easy to get carried away by such prestigious developments. We are an enthusiasts club, and have limited income. I'm not sure about American company law, but my assumption would be that club funds ultimately belong to the members of the club, is this correct ?

[gwhdiesel75]

John, because of our tax-exempt status (that is, exempt from Federal income taxes), were the club to go out of existence, any remaining assets would have to go to another tax-exempt organization, and not be liquidated and paid over to the remaining members. However, the point made above is that the club does not have unlimited resources, and therefore has to be careful in spending money. We are not like our government in Washington DC that can simply print the money to spend. :) GWH

[7upuller]

Hey GWH,

I just thought of a machine that is very popular in the USA, and suprised Cat doesn't pruduce a printing press for our goverment:rolleyes:

[catalac]

My personal opinion regarding the Caterpillar Heritage Center is that it will provide great exposure for ACMOC as a result of the many visitors to the area on an annual basis.

It also will provide benefits to our club members. However, on close examination, the benefits will be greatest to those of us who live in the Peoria area.

In fairness to club members and to other museums around the world, it is important that the financial impact to the club net to zero when comparing the monetary benefits to the cost.

Regards,
Lee

[Tom Madden]

Thank you Lee.

[gwhdiesel75]

Glen, the government already has too many printing presses. If Caterpillar Inc. made printing presses, I don't think I'd be interested in antique Cats. GWH

[dtallon]

I found an article in a different publication about the event...

http://www.eastpeoriatimescourier.com/news/x560179229/Moving-dirt-making-history

John - You are correct that the D6T they used for the event was new. It was a rental hauled in just for the photo op. The contractor is using a D6 on the site, but it is not nearly as photogenic.

Dave