The following information was gleaned from the Hills Centennial Book published in 1990 for the Hills 100th anniversary:
The location of the present day Hills City Offices was once the site of a lumberyard.
It started as the A.T. Sexe yard, which was bought out by the Tuthill Lumber Co.
P.H. Bly, who had managed the yard for Sexe, continued as manager for the Tuthill Company.
Ray Garner took over from Bly, and in 1904 Knute Hellie, one of Hills’ most successful carpenters, succeeded him.
Hellie remained with the company for more than 34 years. He took a four-month trip to Norway in 1913 and left the company for a year and a half. When Hellie retired in 1939, Harvey Bennett replaced him, and Abner Snelling and Earl Stevens were other managers.
In 1945 Grant Hellie became manager, followed by Ray Nelson, Pete Schouwenburg, and then Lars Roning, who managed the business until 1961 when Marvin Bosch took over. He was the last Tuthill manager.
In 1964 the business was bought out by Gerber Building Enterprises of Lester, Iowa.