BATTLE AX

In 1956 Loftness Manufacturing, the forerunner of Loftness Specialized Equipment, Inc., had its beginnings in a farm shop owned by Dick Loftness, a Hector, Minnesota, farmer. Dick had made a V-type snowblower for his own use. A few neighbors saw the blower and asked if Dick would make one for them. Soon Dick had made several of the snowblowers, and Loftness Manufacturing was launched... Gradually, the sales grew until it reached the point where Dick could no longer operate at the farm. He moved the business into a small, vacant building in Hector and employed a few farmers who were not busy in the winter. In 1970, Marv Nelson, a local farmer, began acting as a distributor for Dick. He bought the snowblowers directly from Loftness and traveled the upper Midwest, selling them to farm implement dealers. Gradually, sales increased, and the Loftness Snowblower name was beginning to be recognized. Loftness Manufacturing was once again moved in 1975, this time into a building Dick had built..

Primary location: Hector United States