Farmall Tractors Are A Town Staple

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Photo by Joanne Neilson
Glenn Neilson (l) and Kevin Stiles pose with Stile’s Farmall M tractor.

In Suffield you can see Farmall tractors in most neighborhoods. They are on farms and on Main Street. The Farmall tractor was first made in the 1930s and continued to be made until the mid-1950s. There are Suffield farmers today that own up to 60 plus Farmalls. Many other farmers own 20 – 30. They are an amazing piece of equipment.

The Stiles farm on Mapleton Avenue bought two Farmall tractors from Chriscola’s, located on Route 75 in Agawam, Massachusetts. They ran a dairy farm and did all of their field work with these two tractors. It changed the lives of farmers when they could buy a tractor. These tractors remained in the same family until recently. Kevin Stiles sold both of these family treasures to Glenn and Joanne Neilson. Joanne is Kevin’s first cousin.

The Stiles farm was purchased in 1944 by Herbert Stiles, son Donald Stiles took it over and then passed it to Kevin Stiles. The farm is now preserved and owned by the Bielonko family.

The Farmall M that was sold to the Neilsons was purchased in 1945 by Herbert for his son, Lester, who sent money home while serving his country. Lester left the farm to service his country in WWII. Lester became a pilot and flew many very dangerous missions in Burma. The pilots that flew the C46 flights suffered a very high loss of life. Lester returned to Suffield and the farm after the war. The rest of his life was difficult and he was never able to return to the life of a farmer.

The Neilsons are honored to own this tractor. The tractor had sat idle for over 20 years. Glenn has spent months restoring this gem and now it sparkles with a new paint job. You just can’t kill these work horses. The last thing we plan to do is to get a decal to put on this historic tractor that reads LESTER. We want to keep Lester’s heroic story alive.

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