PHOTO: WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, WHS-24214

Held in 1957 in Peebles, OH, population 1,800, the World Conservation Exposition and Plowing Contests included races where children pitted their pedal-powered toy tractors against each other. Belying the small-town image, however, was the temporary 3,500-foot airstrip that International Harvester Co. (IHC) built to handle the estimated 250,000 attendees who swamped the town via 200 flights per day during the expo. Besides the children's races, there were plowing contests, experts demonstrating new methods to conserve soil and water, and IHC staffers square dancing with tractors.