Collecting Since 1930 - Founded in 1995
Founder Fred C. Heidrick Sr. Museum Collection
Growing up with Grandpa
By Laura Wieking, Granddaughter of Fred Heidrick Sr.
"Growing up, I didn’t really know this collection was anything other than our extended playground. Grandpa never told us to get off the machines, or to stay out of the barns where the rare, one-of-a-kind and massive machines rested. We climbed all over, breathing in the greasy paint smell of the barns and shop as if it were a fine floral bouquet. I knew that people came from all over to see my grandparents and the collection, but I thought it was only because they were like, the coolest grandparents ever"
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History of the The Heidrick Ag History Center
1930s Fred Heidrick Sr. and his brother Joe show an aptitude for inventing and restoring tractors and other farm machinery. By the 1990s, they have amassed an important collection.
1996 The Heidrick Museum Foundation begins to develop the facility that will become the Heidrick Ag History Center.
1997 The Heidrick Ag History Center opens at 1962 Hays Lane. The new facility includes a banquet room, kitchen, courtyard, and glass corridors between two large exhibit halls.
2008 The Heidrick Ag History Center transitions from family management under the Heidrick Museum Foundation to nonprofit status [501(c)(3)] under federal tax law.
2012 The Best 110 Steam Tractor arrives on loan from the Joe & Edith Heidrick Foundation.
2015 The Heidrick Ag History Center expands to become the California Agriculture Museum.
The Collection
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