The Manitoba Agricultural Museum provides a home to many giants from enormous steam engine tractors to grain elevators, that turned the prairies into profitable farms. It’s located conveniently on the Trans-Canada Highway at the small town of Austin.
What’s at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum in Austin, Manitoba?
There are two main museum exhibits at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum: the Homesteader’s Village open air museum and the open storage sheds and areas holding larger artifacts.
The Homesteader’s Village contains 26 buildings.
Many of them are originals, some dating as far back as 1879. Others are reproductions, like the log cabin.
Organized into a one-street rural town, visitors step back in time as they walk the dusty path and go into houses, a church, and various trade and public buildings.
The Carrothers family donated the land for the museum, and their original homestead buildings are still on site.
Schools were important in early Manitoba. So, the town collected both the Ayr School from 1883 and the more modern, Centreville one-room school. Churches helped build those early communities, too, and the 1898 Arizona Church was moved to the site when it stopped being used for weddings and funerals n the 1970s.
You’ll also find a General Store, Grist Mill, Livery Feed & Sale, Print Shop, Shoe & Harness Repair Shop, Grain Elevator, and more in the town.
Agricultural Machinery
The FWD, or Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, was founded in 1909 in Clintonville. They developed the first simple and effective design for four-wheel drive vehicles.
A Canadian subsidiary of the company was set up in 1919 in Kitchener, Ontario. The truck pictured to the left was used year round, as well as being ideal for having the snowplow mounted. Since the average winter’s snowfall in this area totals close to 50 inches, snowplows were essential for farmers to be able to get to town.
Once you leave the town site, you can wander the open storage area taking a look at over 500 pieces of vintage farm equipment.
Big Roy, a 1977 Manitoba-made giant tractor, welcomes visitors from around the world to the Centennial Building on the site.
There’s also a Tractor Sheds area with machines that provide a visual history of all the giant pieces of equipment that broke up the land, starting with horses and steam powered tractors, up to the almost-modern tractors of the 1960s.
Linda’s Pick of the Displays
I can’t explain why, but I’ve always been fascinated with old threshing machines. And the Manitoba Agricultural Museum has more of them in one place than I’ve ever seen before.
I guess I’m lucky that my family started farming in the Qu’Appelle area on a shoestring budget when I was still a toddler.
I remember stooking (leaning tied bundles of grain, or sheaves made by a binder, together to make a triangle shape that would shed the rain) the grain field with my parents, while my job was to mind the younger ones at the truck. My most vivid memory is of feeling itchy from the grain dust in the heat!
Memories of Threshing
Then, of course, we did the actual threshing. My city cousins and uncles all used to show up to haul the sheaves from where they were stooked, to the threshing machine, with a wagon and team of horses, while others ran the tractor and the threshing machine to separate the grain from the straw.
That, however, wasn’t the domain of little girls in those days. Back then, I helped in the kitchen shelling peas and making saskatoon pies to feed the threshing crew.
Guinness Records
How many threshing machines did the Manitoba Agricultural Museum run for 15 minutes to set a Guinness World Record for the most antique threshing machines working at once?
The Manitoba Agricultural Museum holds the Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion & Stampede every July to showcase the history of both the province’s grain and cattle industries.
However, at the 62nd annual event in 2016, the organization went one better. They set a Guinness World Record for the most antique threshing machines operating at once.
Indeed, 139 (of the 148 that started up) threshing machines, with 750 volunteer thresherpersons, produced 1500 bushels of grain from 30,000 sheaves of winter wheat, all during the same 15-minute period!
However, it was such a fun event that St-Albert, Ontario, did one of their own and beat the Guinness record by having 243 threshing machines operating simultaneously in 2019.
Linda’s Road Trip Tips
David and I visited the Manitoba Agricultural Museum as the last stop on a trip to attend the annual August Icelandic Festival in Gimli, Manitoba. Gimli is a resort town on the west side of Lake Winnipeg, about 56 mi (90 km) north of Manitoba’s capital, Winnipeg.
Austin is 134 km west of Winnipeg on the Trans-Canada Highway, so it was just a short drive between the two. While we often visit Winnipeg, we went around the city on that trip.
So, if you’re visiting Winnipeg or driving through for any reason, the agricultural museum in Austin is definitely a stop to put on your itinerary.
The only transportation available between the city and Austin will be by car, though, so you’ll need a rental if you fly in.
Who Should Visit the Manitoba Agricultural Museum?
The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is a must see for visitors of all ages. Seniors will find many reminders of bygone days, both in the Homesteader’s Village and throughout the farm implements and vintage vehicle displays.
Younger members of the family will enjoy the open spaces and places to explore. And if it’s a hot summer day while you’re there, the shaded streets of the village will help make your day more enjoyable.
This isn’t a half-hour, or even a half-day, museum if you have a keen interest in the agricultural history of plains of North America. That said, if time is limited, the open air museum is well organized to let you see the key exhibits that interest you in a shorter period of time.
As well, it’s a museum that you can visit on a regular year-round basis and still find something new.
How to Visit the Manitoba Agricultural Museum
The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is at the small town of Austin, Manitoba, on the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s typically open year-round, but do check before planning a visit during the winter months.
Get the latest hours and admission rates on the Manitoba Agricultural Museum website.
See what’s happening at the museum through the Manitoba Agricultural Museum Facebook page.
Plan your itinerary with Google Maps.
More Things to See and Do in Manitoba
Read more museum reviews on guide2museums.ca for museum attractions in Manitoba.
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