SRHS
Steamboat Rock Historical Society
100 YEARS OLD
CENTENNIAL 1855-1955
HAROLD H. LUIKEN & SONS
The story of Harold Luiken began well before the town of Steamboat Rock began its second 100 years. I have outlined his life in the prior section up to 1955 (the Centennial year). Harold was one of few shining stars in the town’s post centennial period. He built and grew a business when many others were closing.
Harold recalled, “My best recollection is that it must have been the year 1956 that we bought the first Bantam riding mower. It was a single wheel front drive. In about 1957 they came out with the dual wheel front wheel drive. This made it a much better machine since it doubled the power traction.”
“This was the mower that we had for sale when we began the Harold H. Luiken & Sons operation. It was at that time one of the better performing and most reliable riders available. We sold perhaps 50 to 75 of these riders in our own local trade area.”
In the fall of 1958, Royce Luiken, Harolds son was in his last year of college, and older son Harris had a position as a Federal Agent with the IRS in Des Moines. Harold was selling insurance, home appliances, tvs, and automobiles, but in a small town. Harold decided that he needed more volume and profit to gain financially. Harold visited with a friend in Des Moines who ran a successful wholesale business. While he told him it wouldn’t be easy, he did say that if he could find the right product and get a franchise for the state of Iowa, it could possibly work.
Royce and Harris Luiken at the Iowa State Fair
Royce (left) Harold (Right) with Eldora dealers, the Farmer brothers.
Royce, was student teaching in Fort Dodge by now and a bit discouraged in what he saw in the high school generation. He came home one weekend and asked his dad if he needed a partner in the mower business. Knowing it would be tough to get the operation off the ground Harold and Royce hit the road together to recruit dealers. Soon they split up in order to cover more territory. It was a slow process, and Harold had a lofty goal of 400 dealers. Hard work prevailed and the goal was met.
In the fall of 1963 they secured the Snapper mower franchise. In Harold’s words, “The Snapper Riding Mower proved to be the finest mower on the market. Within two years, we had put the Snapper Riding Mower in first place in sales of riding mowers in Iowa.
The furniture store building was sold in the 1960’s, to Harold Luiken for his lawn mower business to house the parts department.
Harold’s brother Wendell operated the parts department, and they hired Merriem Gast as book-keeper, and Harry Luiken, Harold’s cousin as a salesman.
In 1968, it became time for Harold’s oldest son Harris to join the business. Harris had served in the Army during the Korean War and had been a chief supply officer in Seoul, South Korea. This office was completely computerized and he had taken computer training at the time. Harris came into the business and immediately installed a computer system, the first business in the small town to be computerized. Harold said, “This was one of the better things that ever happened at Luiken & Sons.
When Harold began the distributorship he discontinued the appliance business, and two years later he sold the insurance agency. The mower business grew quickly and required a number of building renovations on the southwest block of Steamboat Rock’s Market Street. Later new buildings were built, and warehouses were built near the railroad.
Harold recalled, “The expansion process seemed endless at times. We ultimately built two more warehouses, did a complete remodeling of the Johnson store building , and added another 30 feet of width on the west side, bought an old building on the east side and added another 20 feet of new building there.”
The result was the current office complex and parts department in a 90 foot by 80 foot modern building. A new service building located south of the main building was added later.
In 1970 Harold retired from the city council, and began to take a semiretired role in Luiken & Sons. He and Trena spent some winters in the south and then the southwest which they liked best.
They had returned from Arizona in the spring of 1979, and Trena had been ill with the flu but was showing some improvement. On May 24, Harold came in from mowing the lawn, and found Trena had passed away. A deep sense of loss came over Harold.
A year and a half later in October of 1980, Harold married again. His new bride was Doris Ruppelt, whom he had known all his life. Harold was 71 and still leading an active life in Steamboat in the summer and Arizona in the winter.
On October 3, 1988, Harris Luiken suffered a fatal heart attack. Another tragic loss to Harold, and to his Distributing Business.
On April 25, 1991, Harold passed away just a few days short of his 82nd birthday. Nobody in my estimation exemplifies the spirit of the Steamboat Rock entrepreneur than Harold did.