The garage workshop that Frank Bethge used was right behind my house. He was retired and Gardenall production had ended when I knew him. He was quite a charater and his shop was a regular stop for the neighborhood kids to hear stories or to just watch him work magic with metal. My father bought two Gardenalls the day I was born. One was to stay in town and the other went out to the farm to be used with a wheat drill. Dad said he got the tractors to settle a debt that Glenn Heilman owed. Dad finally sold one tractor in 2000-2001 and the second was given to my cousin when we were settling the estate. I have many memories of driving those tractors around. The factory building is gone, but Bethge's workshop is still there. The locals have all but forgotten the little tractors. Last year there was a tractor show on the courthouse lawn and I saw a local teen looking at a pair of very orginal Gardenalls. He had never seen nor heard of them and wonder where they were built. I told him to turn around and pointed to Woodruff's Grocery. I told him that is where the old factory stood. There are still several known tractors around Liberty and there maybe more stuck away in a garage or barn.
