Dyersville, IA

by Lori Erickson

Corn, hogs, and soybeans aren’t the only farm commodities that drive the economy of Dyersville, Iowa (pop. 4,035). So do toy tractors, trucks, and other small-scale agricultural equipment.

Dyersville is home to the National Farm Toy Museum, a half-dozen stores specializing in farm toys, and hundreds of residents who have either worked at, retired from, or are still employed by one of three farm toy companies in town. No wonder Dyersville dubs itself The Farm Toy Capital of the World.

Fred Ertl Sr. founded the town’s first toy factory after World War II. “During the war most of the country’s factories had been involved in the war effort and all metal toy production had stopped,” says Fred’s son, Joe Ertl. “After the war ended there was a tremendous demand for toys, and my father started making toy tractors in his basement to earn some extra money. Soon it became his full-time business.”

Over the next four decades, the Ertl Co. grew to become the world’s leading farm toy manufacturer. In 1999, it merged with Racing Champions, a maker of die-cast collectibles, to become Racing Champions Ertl. While the company now makes its toys overseas, its Dyersville plant continues to serve as a sales and distribution center, employing 160 people.

Joe Ertl, meanwhile, carries on the family toy-making tradition at Scale Models, a Dyersville company he founded in 1971. The company’s 125 employees make farm toys in a wide variety of designs, tiny models of the huge machines made by companies such as John Deere, Massey Ferguson, and Allis-Chalmers.

“I started working in the toy business when I was 10 years old, and making toys has been my whole life,” Joe Ertl says. “I’m very lucky in that it’s both my hobby and my living.”

Another farm toy manufacturer in town is Spec-Cast, owned by Dyersville native Dave Bell. Spec-Cast’s 50 employees make pewter replicas of farm equipment as well as die-cast cars, trucks, and airplanes. “For many people, farm toys bring back memories of their youth,” Bell says. “They’re also classic, sturdy toys that never go out of style.”

Not surprisingly, Dyersville has become a center for farm toy collecting, a hobby that became popular in the mid-1970s. The National Farm Toy Show, the largest of the town’s six annual toy shows, attracts 15,000 people each November.

At any time of year, people can visit the National Farm Toy Museum, whose two floors house more than 30,000 toys and exhibits, including tractors, trucks, farm implements, miniature farm scenes, and a large pedal tractor display.

“We get all kinds of visitors here, from people who’ve never been on a farm before to people bringing in their grandchildren to explain farming to them,” says Ellen Hunt, the museum’s assistant manager. “Our exhibits show how farming has changed over the years.”

Farm toys aren’t the only treasures in Dyersville. In the 1880s, the town supported construction of the spectacular St. Francis Xavier Basilica, an exquisite Gothic church that was named the first rural basilica in 1956 by Pope Pius XII in recognition of its architectural splendor. Then, in 1988, a cornfield on the Lansing family farm three miles northeast of town was the site for much of the filming for the Hollywood movie Field of Dreams. People still journey to the baseball diamond—carved from a cornfield for the film—from all over the world.

“There’s a line in Field of Dreams that says, ‘If you build it, they will come,’” Bell says. “I like to think that’s true of Dyersville, too. We followed our dream and built a toy industry, a fine museum, and a beautiful basilica, and people have come here as a result, both to live and to visit.”

Lori Erickson is a freelance writer in Iowa City, Iowa.

first appeared: 2/24/2002