The museum, which is currently located at the Landscape Management Research Center off of Orchard Road in University Park, PA, houses turf equipment dating back to the early 1900s.
The Mascaro-Steiniger Turfgrass Museum opened in 1994. The museum, which is currently located at the Landscape Management Research Center off of Orchard Road in University Park, PA, houses turf equipment dating back to the early 1900s. Agronomy professor emeritus Joseph Duich began the collection in the 1970s and has been adding to it for almost 30 years.
The museum is named after two leaders in the turfgrass industry -- Thomas Mascaro (1915 - 1997) and Eberhard Steiniger (1905 - 2002). Mascaro was president of West Point Products, a turfgrass equipment manufacturer, for 55 years. In 1986, he and his son, John, founded Turf-Tec International, a company that designs diagnostic turfgrass instruments for golf course superintendents. Steiniger established the world-renowned Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey and was superintendent of the club for 57 years. Steiniger and Mascaro collaborated on inventing and testing more than 20 pieces of turfgrass equipment. Many of the pieces on display, are their original inventions.
The museum features 1920s and 1930s turf tractors, the first triplex greens mower, several turf rollers, a wheelbarrow seeder, and a special rake used on golf courses to pick up unsightly dirt trails left by worms without impaling the otherwise useful creatures. Also exhibitied is the horse-drawn soil scoop used to construct the course at the Pine Valley Golf Club. Of interest to homeowners is one of the first power lawn mowers - called a Lawn-Do-All.
Golf enthusiasts can see benches and a pin (the flagpole that marks each hole) from the Merion Golf Club. Merion's pins are unique because instead of having a cloth flag, they are topped with a hand-woven wicker bulb. This keeps golfers from looking at a flag to tell wind direction and speed. It makes the game a lot more challenging.
Visit The Museum
Mascaro-Steiniger Turfgrass Museum
Landscape Management Research Center
Orchard Road
University Park, PA 16802
Hours: by appointment
Phone: 814-865-6541