Yesterday’s Memories, the Vander Haag Truck Museum

During the 2024 Red Power Round Up in Spencer, Iowa this summer, they offered a few tours, one of the ones that my husband Keith and I jumped to join was the Yesterday’s Memories truck museum in Sanborn, Iowa. This museum is the story of John C. Vander Haag Jr. their business, their collection, and his amazing success that led to this huge truck museum.

South Side Junkyard

From 1939 until 1955 the Vander Haag family ran the South Side Junkyard. During our tour, I had the great pleasure to meet John C. Vander Haag who is in 92. He shared a bit of the story of how this museum came about with me. “I don’t think you’ll find anything like this,” he said about Yesterday’s Memories Museum that he opened with his wife Ruth.

“Dad and mom came over from Holland. My mother’s family came first in 1903 when she was two years old. Dad in 1920 at the age of 17. My father was among the large proportion of Friesland emigrants who were young agricultural laborers,” he shared. It was his Uncle Ike Bosma that sponsored him to come work on the farm in the US.

“I was born in 1932.,” John Vander Haag said. “He had married a gal from church, and everything went well until the Depression hit.”

His family went through hard times. Things turned around a bit when his dad went into the junkyard business. He opened Southside Junkyard in 1939. As a young man, John was fascinated by the business and spent his time sorting through the scraps finding special items to salvage.

The business grew.

Eventually young John expanded from just selling recycled parts to a focus on trucks. He expanded the business into six locations with over 250 employees. Eventually the name was changed to Vander Haag’s. Details of the past and the development of the South Side Junkyard and its amazing expansion is all written in John Vander Haag’s autobiography, Son of a Junkman. In the book, John writes, “My dad’s junkyard was the best playground a kid could want.”

The business and his family shaped him. Today John has three children and two grandchildren, and he said that he just got a new great grandchild. “My wife is a farm girl. She is a marvel,” he said of his wife of 67 years.

Yesterday’s Memories Museum!

Yesterday’s Memories is home to thousands of items from years gone by. John began collecting as a boy with children’s toys, fuel pumps historic cars and trucks and more.

Over the years, the collection has grown to seven buildings. Rob Balt, the museum curator said that this may be the biggest museum in Iowa!

There are over 70 pieces of farm equipment. With 250 plus showcases with multiple pieces of Yesterday’s Memories, there is a large selection of scale and replica vehicles. There are over 375 vehicles to peruse. Besides the trucks, there are also personal family memorabilia and Sanborn, Iowa history.

Check out the website to see what vehicles are selling, and the museum is also a Harvest Host member, so RV’s are welcome.

Event Center!

The museum also serves as an event center. It is a place used for many civic events in this town that the Vander Haag’s love. “We also have a kitchen here,” John shared. “This is a hotspot.”

Rob Balt said almost every weekend there is an event there. “It really is the community center. They had voting here and a blood drive.”

John and his wife enjoy meeting visitors. He recalled meeting a woman whose grandfather turned out to be pastor Rev. Van Zorn. A pastor that John Vander Haag remembers fondly. “I told her the things he did for us. We’ve been blessed. He married the folks and baptized me.”

A member of the Reformed Dutch church early on, he said that was a popular church for Dutch immigrants that came to the area. “I’ve had a wonderful life, the Lord has blessed me the more I give, the more He gives. The best thing in life is praying and you can’t buy that.”

With 2,000 plus visitors a year it is easy to see why this is a popular place. It takes around three hours to adequately view the collection. Per Ruth Van Haag’s suggestion museum scooters are available for those that need them.

Highlights.

John Van Haag directed us to his 1932 Chevy Landau Phaeton a favorite. “This vehicle has everything made for you.”

While that is Mr. Van Haag’s favorite, I myself was enamored with the 1924 International Red Baby. Farm toy collectors will drool over all the farm and truck toys on display along with the real ones. Fire truck enthusiasts will also love the massive fire truck collections. Per their brochure, there are over 90 on display!

Work trucks, pretty trucks and more adorn the floors of the building. A 1918 Sheldon built in Rochester New York has wood wheel spokes and a 10 1/2-foot flatbed. There are Chevy trucks, International trucks, GMC and more.

Details!

The museum is open Monday – Friday from 8-4. Located at 106 Eastern St. Sanborn, Iowa’s 51248, their phone number is 712-729-3268. They offer tours to school and care facilities on request. They opened their museum for the Red Power Round Up crowd, and we loved it! Note that this stop is one of the 100 Things To Do In Iowa Before You Die written by my friend Sara Broers. Now I can check this item off my list!