Years In Operation: 1917-1923 Models Built: Several Models Built including a light delivery vehicle Approximate Number of Cars Built: Unknown Factory Address: 429/510 E. Grove St., Greenville MI Officers of the Company:
R.J. Tower: President
F.E. Tower: Vice President
F.E. Davis: Vice President and General Manager(1918-formerly of Continental Motors)
S.A. Booth: Secretary and Treasurer(listed in 1921)
C.V. Coats: Secretary and Treasurer
W.M. Vreeland: Genral Sales Manager
T.B. Winter: Stockholder
H.L. Baker: Stockholder
J. Sandwich: Sales Manager(listed in 1921)
A.E. Krigsted: Purchasing Agent(listed in 1921)
A.E. Carlin: Production Manager(listed in 1921)
What can i see today?
There are no known examples of a Tower Truck but this photo shows the truck at the factory..
Find out more about the Tower Truck Company by visiting the Flat River Historical Museum... Address: 231 N. Franklin St., Greenville, MI, 48848 Phone: (616) 754-5296 or (616) 894-1783 Website: https://flatrivermuseum.org/
The original R.J. Tower Iron Works is still standing but is not open to the public. This is the sight where the prototype truck was constructed and was later displayed in early 1916. It is occupied by Mid-Michigan Machine and Tooling currently. Address: 429 E. Grove St., Greenville MI, 48838
The original Tower Truck factory is virtually right across the street and is occupied by Federal Mogul. Part of the original structure is still standing. Address: 510 E. Grove St., Greenville MI., 48838
The story
Long before the Tower Truck Company existed, the company started out as the R.J. Tower Iron Works founded by Samuel Tower in 1874. Tower expanded into other businesses as well...
On October 6th, 1915 it is announced that Tower will build trucks....
The completion of the prototype truck was announced in late October...
An announcement comes in January of 1916 for the planned ground breaking of the new factory....
The Tower Truck Company is incorporated March 6th, 1916 with a capital stock of $50,000....
The new plant construction was underway in May...
October saw an announcement of a new city firetruck. The price tag was $3400 and delivery took place April 30th, 1917. Just like the prototype, the firetruck was also built in the Iron Works building...
By July 1917 the building was nearly complete...
The factory was completed and ready for production...
The stock was going to be increased according to this article from December 5th, 1917. In March of 1918, it was announced the stock would indeed be increased to $200k...
In January 1918, F.E. Davis made trips to Detroit and Cleveland to secure contracts for suppliers to build the trucks...
In February it was announced a Chicago distribution office would be opened...
On March 5th it was announced it would show off a new model for the public...
In January of 1919, Tower showed their products at the Chicago Truck Show...
By April of 1919, the Tower Truck Company had a value of $500,000...
F.E. Davis was named president in the same month. He had come from Continental Motors who were huge suppliers of engines for cars, trucks, and tractors in the Brass Era. Below is a letter that appeared in a 1919 ad written by Davis...
This ad appeared in August announcing a new 3 1/2 ton truck...
These announcements from September and December of 1919 show a 1 1/2 ton model to be added to the lineup...
One of the many selling points of the Tower was their strength and durability...
In late 1919 and early 1920 it was announced there would be an addition to the factory....
This announcement from February of 1920 show Tower will have at least one distributor in California. In March, I.R. Tower headed up an auto show in Oregon. Eventually Tower also had direct factory branches in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis...
In mid 1920 the general sales manager, W.M. Vreeland, left Tower to go work at Duplex Truck Distributing in Denver Colorado. Duplex was based out of Lansing, MI...
In October sales were looking up. Minneapolis and Chicago were among the cities that had great prospects...
On January 5th, 1921 the company went into receivership and was shut down for about 3 months as seen here...
Records show in June 1921 the officers of the company and the models being produced continued to carry on...
Things still seemed bright in October of 1923. There had been a joint venture between the National Stores Manufacturing Company of Grand Rapids and Tower Truck. The idea was to make "rolling grocery stores" that would deliver groceries to residents. By the time this article was written, three had already been constructed and a fourth was being built. This seems to be the extent of this business agreement as the Tower ceased to make trucks after 1923.
Different ads for the Tower Truck...
references
Flat River Historical Society
The Commercial Car Journal-1920/Volume 19
Motor West-1920/1921
Standard Catalog of American Cars-Clark/Kimes
The Commercial Vehicle-Volume 13
Motor West-Volume 34-No. 1
The Automotive Manufacturer-Volume 57
Automotive Industries-Volume 34
The History of Montcalm County-Dasef
Free Press and Courier-Paw Paw MI-June 1916
Library of Congress-Sanborn Fire Insurance Map-1918
Motor Trucks of America-Volume 8
Power Wagon Reference Book-1920
Motor Record-Volume 10
Polk's Michigan State Business Directory-1921
Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record-Volume 31
