National Construction Equipment Museum Celebrates New Building for Historic Machines (We Visit the Facility)

The Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) dedicated its new museum building in Bowling Green, Ohio, on September 19, 2025. The 20,000-sq-ft structure replaces a cramped 7,000-sq-ft exhibit area. It finally gives the organization’s awesome historic construction machines space to stretch and the visitors room to breathe. Compact Equipment sent freelancer Richard Ries to the event. He took notes and captured plenty of video. Expect a Machine Heads deep-dive soon, but here’s all the info on the new building and the HCEA.

Built for Booms, Visitors and Volunteers

This building was designed with iron in mind. The vaulted ceiling lets shovel and crane booms extend. Large rollup doors simplify exhibit moves. A heated slab stabilizes winter temperatures while insulated walls control echoes. Monitor-style windows on the east roof bring in natural light. Even on a hot afternoon, the interior felt cool and quiet, according to Ries. The space works for both preservation and presentation. HCEA broke ground on September 23, 2023. Crews placed the first steel on December 17, 2024, and wrapped up major construction in spring 2025. The $2,000,000 cost was covered entirely by donations. Ohio Cat’s Ken Taylor led the Big Push with a $500,000 match. Hundreds of other donors filled in the rest. With the shell complete, fundraising now shifts to interior offices, archives and an educational center.

What You’ll See Inside Eventually

The museum cares for more than 220 machines. Many of them run. At the 2025 convention, visitors watched crawlers, graders and crushers at work. Indoors, restored shovels and cranes stand with booms raised for the first time. The taller ceiling will change the visitor experience, as you can see from the photo above, which shows the low ceiling of the old museum.

Here’s a taste of what’s on display:

• Classic shovels, cranes and draglines from Bucyrus-Erie, Lima, Koehring and Marion
• Crawlers and wheel tractors from Cat, Allis-Chalmers, Euclid and IH
• Early graders and motor graders from Adams, Galion, Austin-Western and Cat
• Rollers, scrapers and compactors that shaped America’s highways

The museum also maintains trenchers, pipelayers, compressors, drills and vintage trucks. Many machines still operate, offering visitors a rare chance to see iron in motion.

Terex 33-15: The Showstopper

The newest addition is a Terex 33-15 electric-drive haul truck, the last of its kind. The truck traveled to Bowling Green in pieces across six trailers and now sits on a new concrete pad. Volunteers and local contractors handled the move and assembly. HCEA is fundraising to complete restoration and interpretation. As of the expo, donations totaled $29,000 toward a $40,000 goal. The truck anchors the yard and promises to be a major draw.

Why HCEA Matters

The HCEA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to preserving construction, dredging and surface mining equipment history. The group keeps machines alive through restoration, documents the industry’s past in its archives and stages conventions filled with live demos. The work is fueled by volunteers, donations and membership support. Compact Equipment is a Media Partner.

A Well-Planned Dedication Event

The dedication doubled as a convention and expo. The organizers anticipated every detail, according to Reis. Here were his thoughts:

About half the old museum is shop space. The display space is well managed, and there’s room to walk around the machines. Despite this, it feels cramped compared to the massive dimensions of the new museum and the height is a major factor in the feeling of spaciousness in the new building. Bonus points to HCEA for food trucks, picnic tables set up in the shade, plenty of portable toilets, golf carts available for rent, a large field for camping ($10/night or $20 for the duration of the show) and discounts at area hotels. They did a good job of anticipating attendees’ needs — although Bowling Green isn’t tiny — neither is it huge. HCEA had to work hard to line up all these features in that area. They also had a social hour and banquet.

Location and Visiting

The museum is located at 16623 Liberty Hi Rd in Bowling Green, Ohio. It is currently open by appointment. Call 419-352-5616 or email info@hcea.net to schedule a tour. Ask ahead about live demos if that’s on your wish list.

Looking Ahead

With the new building open, HCEA has a platform that matches its mission. The next phase includes offices, archives and an educational center. Restoration projects will move faster with better access and work space. Our Machine Heads crew now has footage from dedication day and will publish a full video tour soon. The HCEA’s new home puts historic machines in their best light. It’s not just storage. It’s a working classroom for anyone who has ever climbed into a cab or gripped a control lever. We’ll keep updated as it opens up even further.

Keith Gribbins is publisher of Compact Equipment.

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