Buske Manufacturing: Iowa Time Machine October 5, 1925

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On October 5, 1925, Earl Robert Buske was born. Buske went on to turn an auto-body shop in Pocahontas, Iowa, into a manufacturer of tow trucks and recovery equipment.

Buske served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and later studied at Chicago Tech. He worked at East Side Top and Body in Pocahontas from 1949 to 1956, learning a trade in vehicle repair. That experience became the foundation for E. R. Buske Manufacturing in 1957.

The firm began as an automotive repair operation, then made tow trucks for its own use. Customer demand led it to build them for sale. By 1996, the Buske manufacturing and distributing companies employed about 80 people in Pocahontas. Buske Manufacturing grew into a major local employer, responsible for roughly a quarter of the city’s manufacturing jobs.

A patent-infringement judgment involving tow-truck equipment preceded Buske and his manufacturing company's 1996 bankruptcy filings. The court weighed the creditor’s claims against the risk that losing the business would hurt Pocahontas and its workers. #Iowa #OTD #History #Manufacturing #Towing