In 2018, Towmaster celebrates 40 years in manufacturing and selling flatbed equipment trailers, and 10 years in manufacturing and selling truck equipment.

Towmaster (Monroe Towmaster LLC) is celebrating its 40th Anniversary in flatbed equipment trailer manufacturing and its 10th Anniversary in truck body manufacturing and truck equipment distribution.

In 1978, Harlan Palm sold the first official Towmaster brand trailer designed to haul skid-loaders. This was a few years after he sold his Palm Industries manufacturing plant that made roll-over protection for construction equipment.

Palm was not new to manufacturing, nor was he new to sales. He saw a need for a better-than-average quality trailer to haul construction equipment and filled that need with Towmaster brand trailers.

Palm knew the company wouldn't grow very large if he had to sell trailers to end-users, so he started working on a distribution network by selling to construction equipment dealers.

This allowed him to grow the company, at that time called Palm Sales, and grow the product line. Palm also saw a need to be filled in the rental industry as more and more equipment rental businesses were popping up. Towmaster expanded into this area.

While the trailers had been manufactured on Palm's farm place, it had outgrown the plant and in 1994 Towmaster moved its production to Litchfield, Minn. It has been a manufacturing pillar in the community since then.

In 2008, the recession was just beginning and trailer sales were dropping as the housing market was declining. This was no time to sit idle, and Towmaster made the decision with help from its employees to produce plow trucks for municipalities and departments of transportations all over the state of Minnesota.

It was an investment that helped get the company through the diminishing trailer sales and catapult it to the next level. As the economy started to recover, Towmaster was poised to grow in both truck equipment and trailer sales.

Last year, Towmaster was sold to Monroe Truck Equipment out of Monroe, Wis., but it retains its manufacturing facility and employees in Litchfield.

In 2018, Towmaster celebrates 40 years in manufacturing and selling flatbed equipment trailers, and 10 years in manufacturing and selling truck equipment. It has been a Made in Meeker business since its inception and continues to this day.

For more information, visit www.monroetowmaster.com

This story also appears on Truck and Trailer Guide.

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