John Deere Pavilion opens new toy exhibit

While the John Deere Pavilion has been known for 27 years for displaying the Moline-based equipment maker’s big machines, its newest feature showcases trademark products on a much smaller scale.

“From the Toybox: A Century of John Deere Toys” is a new permanent exhibit opening at the northwest corner of the pavilion (1400 River Drive, Moline) on Friday, May 17, reflecting the history and evolution of John Deere toys.

It is a celebration of imagination and play, featuring about 40 rare and vintage toys from the John Deere Archives.

“They’ve never been on display. That’s been one of our goals – we have all these amazing artifacts, but the public can’t see them,” Brandon Jens, Deere’s branded properties manager, said Thursday. “It’s supposed to be a representation. We don’t have every single toy that’s John Deere.”

There are about 40 toys to be displayed, including three ride-on toys — a 1912 John Deere Junior wagon, a 1960s pedal tractor and a 2001 electric-powered Gator. There are about 700 Deere toys in the archives, including multiples of a lot of them.

The exhibit will take visitors on a nostalgic journey through the past 100+ years, exploring how John Deere toys have reflected the changes in the real-life machines that inspire them. From the first cast-iron tractor models to the modern die-cast and plastic replicas, the exhibit will display the craftsmanship and innovation that have made John Deere toys a favorite among generations of collectors and enthusiasts.

The exhibit will also highlight the stories and memories behind the toys, revealing how they have influenced and inspired people of all ages and backgrounds. Whether they are family heirlooms, childhood treasures, or creative tools, John Deere toys have a special meaning for everyone who owns them.

They started assembling the toy exhibit 18 months ago and reached out to collectors, asking them what their favorites were, said Neil Dahlstrom, branded properties & heritage manager, who oversees the company archives.

“They all had different stories,” he said. “It’s got different meanings for everyone. The one toy that made everyone’s list was the Ertl John Deere toy tractor Model A from 1947 and we have one in the exhibit.”

“It started the relationship with Ertl – it was made in the Ertl family basement in Dyersville,” Dahlstrom said. The National Farm Toy Museum is there.

A toy tractor box from Ertl (16 times its actual size) has been painstakingly recreated for the new exhibit, he said. “We tried to make this as authentic as possible.”

Deere Store discounts

The John Deere Store next door will have 20% off all merchandise in the store today through Saturday, Jens said. Once a month, they will have a featured toy and for May and June that will be a “Field of Dreams” tractor that will be on display at the pavilion front desk. In July, the store will discount Deere LEGO sets.

The “Field of Dreams” tractor (made by Ertl) is based on the real one used in the 1989 classic film. The toy of the month will be featured at the pavilion front desk, and the store will have a discount on it for sale.

“We have an opportunity to swap things out,” Jens said of rotating the toys displayed after six months. “We could put more Christmas-oriented toys there.”

There are a lot of versions of toy tractors, Dahlstrom said. Others include toys based on lawn and garden equipment, snowmobiles, Gators, teddy bears and a Barbie.

The Deere hat display (which also is permanent) was in the area where the toybox is now.

You can download the Visit John Deere mobile app, click on the pavilion and learn much more about each toy featured.

“What’s gonna be fun is we’re goona learn so much,” Dahlstrom said. “People are gonna come in and tell us about the toys we don’t know about. Now we know they go back to at least 1912, that’s a lot of time to cover.”

Deere’s collection has built up mainly from acquiring toys, he said.

“We just wanted to see grandma and grandpa talking to their grandkids about these toys, and we just wanted to have fun with it,” Dahlstrom said. “Not overcomplicate it and not showing a lot.”

There is a tee marker from the first John Deere Classic in the exhibit.

“We have everything from a 1912 John Deere wagon, to our latest toys we sell in the John Deere Store next door,” Jens said.

“It’s multi-generational – we know people have their great memories of their own John Deere toys, so it really hit from kids to older folks,” he said.

“I think kids will love it; I think adults will love it,” Jens said. “It will bring that nostalgia to us who are older, but it will be eye-opening for smaller kids to see what toys might have looked like. A lot of them look the same – a tractor’s a tractor.”

Deere has been working with Milan-based Edwards Creative Services on assembling the exhibit.

For more information on John Deere Pavilion (which is free to the public), click HERE.

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