Sherry Schaefer started Heritage Iron in 2008, and she also edits the Oliver Heritage magazine. Sherry grew up around tractors and equipment her entire life. Her grandfather, Ervin Schaefer, was an Oliver tractor dealer in both Granite City and Hamel, Illinois from 1936 -1965. Her father, Oliver “Ollie” Schaefer, is a used Oliver tractor and equipment dealer in Greenville, Illinois. The Schaefer family also owned and operated a national tractor pulling sled service for more than 25 years beginning in the late 1960’s.
Schaefer worked along-side her father throughout the pulling sled years. When she was not tractor-pulling, Schaefer worked as a truck driver hauling grain to elevators along the Mississippi River. The hours she spent on the farm loading grain and tractor pulling gave her vast exposure to tractors of all makes and models to which she gained an affection for. In 1993 Schaefer became the editor of the Hart-Parr Oliver Collectors magazine, which focused exclusively on the Oliver brand of equipment. Schaefer served in this capacity for 10 ½ years before venturing out on her own.
These are the tractor you’ll find around the office at Heritage Iron today:
Super Oliver 55
This belonged to her grandfather’s mechanic at his Oliver dealership. “This was Bill and Zelda’s tractor,” Sherry says. After their passing, she was sure to make “Willie” part of her family.
Oliver 770
“This is my parade tractor,” she says. “It had a cornpicker mounted to it, so for the most part it has been protected, but I did go ahead and repaint it.”
Oliver 1600
This is one of the workhorses of Sherry’s collection. Known as “The Teenager” because it’s a 1600 series, this tractor can be found blading the office’s long driveway and doing other work around the building.
Oliver OC-46
Affectionately called “Digger” this crawler tractor can be found multi-tasking and is called on when products needs to be loaded and lifted onto the trailer for the shows across the country.
