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Happy 90th anniversary!

Subhead
Herman Motors in Luverne marks business milestone with open house
Lead Summary
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By
Lori Sorenson

Herman Motors is observing its 90th year in business and will host an open house from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, at the dealership on South Highway 75.
There will be food, inflatables, door prizes and cruise-in with Ford or Ford-powered vehicles. The public is welcome to attend.
The celebration marks nine decades of Herman family auto business in Luverne.
“This has to do with great employees and faithful customers,” said owner Joel Herman, who took over operations in 2012 from his father, Richard.
The business dates back to 1932 when Richard’s father, Fred, purchased Urquhart Motor Company from A.M. Urquhart. It was located in what is now Camelot Apartments.
In 1938 part of the East Main Street Herman Motor was constructed, because renting became more costly than owning.
In 1947 the iconic round showroom was added, and more remodeling and additions improved the operation in the decades to follow.
Ownership and operations were passed down from Fred Herman to sons Jim Herman (retired in 1998) and Dick Herman (retired in 2012) and now Joel Herman.
For more than 80 years, the Herman family in Luverne sold cars downtown, but in 2015 that all changed when operations moved south.
By this time Joel Herman had taken over the reins from his father, Dick, and the opportunity arose for an expansion and relocation of the family business.
A brand-new Ford dealership was built on South Highway 75, more than doubling inventory space and immediately boosting auto sales.
The land was purchased with the aid of tax increment financing, which promotes growth in an area of the city that was previously blighted and generating low taxes.
The properties formerly occupying the 430 feet along the west side of the highway included the Cenex station, a car wash and a triangle-shaped building that once was a coffee shop. They were owned by Eastern Farmers Union.
In the downtown dealership location, Herman Motor had space for 60 vehicles. The new lot has capacity for 110.
Joel said he and his family enjoyed the nostalgia of the former location, but he said the business was overdue for change.
“Something had to be done with that old building, and we were out of space,” Herman said in 2015. “We feel fortunate that the Historical Society wanted to buy it.”
For the Rock County Historical Society, the transaction was an answer to a decades-long search for a more accessible and more spacious building.
Fundraising campaigns and local government support helped renovate the former auto shop into a dynamic and educational museum that now attracts hundreds of visitors from all over the country.
Ironically, the round former Ford showroom still showcases an automobile, an original 1911 Luverne Thirty, which was manufactured in Luverne more than 110 years ago.
 
Strength of relationships
In a Star Herald feature story highlighting Herman Motors’ 75 years in business, Richard credited loyal customers and good workers for the success of the business.
 “The strength of small-town America is the relationships we have with our customers,” Dick said.
In the 75th anniversary Star Herald feature, Joel commented on doing business with customers through generations of families.
“People come in who say they bought cars from my grandpa,” he said. “It’s nice to have loyal customers out there.”

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