The business presently known as Manning Anhydrous started as a Phillips Fertilizer dealership at the former Manning Mill under the direction of Gale Moore. The fertilizer plant was moved in 1967 to a half mile east of Manning. Employees were Clarence Grundmeier, Bookkeeper and Bud Weems, who custom applied ammonia along with Gale. About 62 tons of anhydrous ammonia was applied that year.

In 1971, Gale bought the equipment and the storage tanks from Phillips and became an independent dealer. The business was incorporated in 1974, when a partnership was formed between Gale, his wife Joanne, their son Chuck and his wife Jan.

The sale of anhydrous ammonia rose to 900 tons in 1979. Merlyn "Buzz" Hargens is now also employed there and works on the yard with Chuck and Gale, and delivers tanks to the farms. Kenny Dales, Bud Weems and Duane Wegner custom apply ammonia and the bookkeeping is now being done by Joanne and Jan.

In 1979, another major change occurred when land was purchased across the frontage road to the southeast for a new site. The 12,000 gallon storage tanks were moved in the summer of 1979, as was the shop. The shop was enlarged and a new office was built.

The 1980 season was the first at the new site. The business sells anhydrous ammonia, herbicides, pesticides and some liquid fertilizers. Manning Anhydrous also rents toolbars and custom applies ammonia.

The smell of fresh pastries, pies and bread has been a part of Manning's business district from the start. Most early restaurants contained a confectionary and bakery. Customers could eat the treats there, or take them home.

Miles Woolman specialized in baked goods in 1881; A.L. Wright and Mr. Dearinger had shops in 1888; L. Lightfoot and William Rosch opened bake shops in 1889, along with W.A. and R.E. Williams. Lightfoot later bought the Pioneer Restaurant and Bakery from Wm. Ohrt in 1900. Frank Buchheit, who was born in Carroll County in 1882, advertised the "Buchheit's Bakery and Restaurant" in the south part of the Brunnier Home Store in the 1906 Carroll County Atlas.

The Manning Bakery, home of the famous "Blue Ribbon Bread" was opened in April, 1917. Alfred Sinn ran the shop at 814 Third Street (now occupied by the McMahon Feed and Seed Store), for nearly 25 years. His retail outlet was at 304 Main Street.

In 1932, Freeland Benjamin Valentine took over the Third Street building, which had been vacated by Sinn several years earlier. Valentine continued the bakery there for two years, and then moved the entire operation to 304 Main Street (the First Federal Savings and Loan Association Building).

With the move, Valentine installed a new oven and a complete line of equipment. One of his helpers was Amos Misselhorn, who arrived at 5 a.m. each day, working until school began; he returned to the job after school and weekends, receiving $3 a week for his efforts. Misselhorn later entered the military, and when the call was made for a baker, it was decided that this job made him the best qualified for the position.

Rolls, bread, doughnuts, and other delicacies from Valentine's Bakery were popular until his retirement in 1970. Today, as in Manning's beginning, baked goods are a part of the restaurant business.

Brothers Garry and Ben Puck, sons of the Ed Pucks of Manning, established their pit and cesspool pumping service in the spring of 1979. The business began with one truck, and now includes two trucks to service an area reaching 60 miles from Manning.

The firm recently added portable toilet rentals for use at celebrations, parties, and on construction sites.

Garry Puck, a 1968 graduate of Audubon High School, worked at Farmland Foods in Carroll the six years before beginning the business. Ben Puck, a 1977 Manning High School graduate, has been farming south of Manning. While their business is a fulltime enterprise for Garry, Ben continues to farm and has charge of the maintenance of the machines.

Garry lives northeast of Manning on an acreage, and Ben lives south of town.

Most farm implements in Manning's early years were small enough that they were sold through the hardware stores. In 1882, for instance, Arney Brothers had hardware, implements, and the celebrated Glidden barbed wire in their building at the south end of Main Street, well augers, pumps, wagons and other equipment were handled by Martin & Smith, at the east side of Main Street, and by Morsch & Moody, at the corner of Main and Third Streets.

Three firms dealt exclusively in farm implements in 1882. Thompson, Morrow & Co., at the south end of Main Street, J.B. Cook, at the corner of Main and Fourth Streets, and S. Hunter, south of Fourth on Main, carried reapers, mowers, harvesters and other such equipment.

Farrell & Martens was advertising a new, triple wagon box at $45 in 1921, while a Fordson tractor which could "Plow, harrow, and drill as much ground as four to six horses, maybe eight" could be obained at the F.D. Ross & Co. for $625.

A binder sold by the C.H. Reinholdt Hardware store in 1895 served the area for more than 36 years. The Deering type binder, purchased by Joachim Ploen, had missed only two bundles due to twine breaking, according to a report in the 1931 Monitor.

Fred Miller, who had a combination implement/hardware store in the early 1900's, offered such things as buggies, threshers, engines, handpowered corn shellers, feed grinders, windmills, pumps, oil and grease.

Most farms of this era were nearly self-sufficient. Although neighbors were called in to help drive cattle, haul hogs to the stockyards, or for threshing, the majority of the field work was done by the farmer and his family. This meant that nearly every farm had each piece of equipment needed to produce the crops.

In the early 1920's, a group of farmers called upon a fellow farmer, Albert Puck, to be their agent to purchase coal, flour, apples, overshoes, watermelons and the like. This distribution took place either around the kitchen stove or at the railroad car when it arrived in Manning.

Along with these commodities, the need was growing for the ordering of horse-drawn rakes, binders, mowers, cultivators and other related equipment. As these units arrived in Manning a facility was needed to store and distribute them. A warehouse was rented from an elevator company on the Milwaukee railroad and merchandise was stored there until it was needed.

This merchandise included Madison plows, Overland cultivators, Rock Island plows and spreaders, Nichols and Shepherd thresh machines, and Minnesota Farm Equipment made at the Minnesota prisons.

In 1926, Albert Puck signed the first contract with John Deere Plow Company. The John Deere equipment sold at that time consisted of wagon boxes, sulky and gang plows, horse drawn mowers, rakes and hayloaders, harrows and cultivators.

In 1928, seeing that this enterprise demanded more attention, Albert Puck had a farm sale and moved to town to devote full time to the growing business. The work continued to be mostly seasonal but the distribution of coal, feed and seed kept the enterprise going in the winter.

In 1930, Albert's son, Willis, joined the firm and the business moved from the warehouse to the north end of Front Street in the Farmers Union building. The business went by the name of Farmers Union at that time and was primarily centered around the distribution of John Deere equipment, gasoline, coal, oil, feed and seed. Coal sheds and grain bins were constructed on both the Milwaukee and the Chicago North Western Railroads.

Depression days were hard on everyone, but everything kept going until the big change came. In the late 1930's and continuing into the early 1950's, a revolution occurred on the farm. Horse power was traded for tractor power! This meant an accompanying change in all the other equipment used on the farm, and the farm equipment business flourished.

During the horsepower days, the care of the horse was an important part of the farmer's day. Each farm needed at least four animals, each horse needing rest periods, fly nets in the summer, currying, and special care for the shoulders to prevent sores by the constantly rubbing collars.

As the tractor age was entered, firms handling harnesses, horseshoeing, and other horse-related work were forced to change with the time or they became obsolete. Johannes Bunz, a master blacksmith who arrived from Germany in 1929, was one who was successful in making the change. As work horses diminished, Bunz expanded into lines of farm machinery, including the New Idea, Oliver, and International Harvester lines.

In 1950, Bunz constructed a new building east on Highway 141, and moved his implement company there. Amos Kusel and Art Gruhn were

affiliated with the company in the mid-1950s, selling their shares to Bunz after several years. Bunz retired March 1, 1963, and the firm was sold to Art Talbott, Ivan Opperman, and Larry Witt, who renamed it the Manning Implement Company. They handled International, New Idea and several short lines such as Farmhand and Bearcat until the company closed in the spring of 1972.

The first International and Farmall lines were introduced into Manning by the F.D. Ross Company, which had an automobile dealership at the intersection of Third and Center Streets (Plastico). The Ross firm first carried horsedrawn equipment, graduating to steel-wheeled tractors, and later to rubber-tired models.

Another car dealership, the Frahm Motor Company, carried the J.I. Case farm implement franchise from 1942 until the late 1950s. The business was located at 215 Main Street, in the building now housing Ahrens' dental office and the Veterinary Associates.

L.F. Knudson took over the International franchise in 1945, when he opened an implement company at the corner of Elm and Third Streets, today the home of J & S Feed. The firm closed in the fall of 1954.

Massey Harris tractors, the forerunner of today's Massey Fergusens, were sold by Bert Eich and Dick Sebern at the east edge of Manning in the former Rostermundt gas station. This was in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Sebern also ran Dick's Body Shop.

John Miller constructed a building at the intersection of Highway 141 and West Streets in 1960, where he carried the Allis Chalmers line. He discontinued implement sales in 1970, and continued to operate an implement repair shop until 1977. The building is now part of Manning Heating and Sheet Metal.

The Puck Implement Company is an out-growth of the Farmers Union Association, which originated in the early 1920's; it is the only implement firm operating in Manning today.

The Puck name was adopted by the firm in 1947.

The Puck Company moved to its present location on Highway 141 in 1950. It began with a main building and a warehouse with a combined floor space of approximately 12,000 square feet, and today has grown to approximately 24,000 square feet housed in five buildings. In a separate building is Hawkeye Diesel Service, a diesel repair station which operates a subsidiary of Puck Implement Company.

Employment has followed this growth trend as well. Beginning with one employee in 1926, the firm today employs 20 people, including servicemen, partsmen, assemblymen, salesmen, bookkeepers and owners. Willis Puck has been joined by his sons, Warren in 1965, and Ken in 1971.

The change in farm equipment has been equally as interesting. First came the horsedrawn rakes, binders, mowers, and plows. Then came the small 1 1/z h.p. engines, the two-cylinder tractors, and associated equipment. And today, the firm is delivering 225 h.p., four wheel drive tractors and forage harvesters.

Other current equipment carried at Puck Implement includes four, eight, and 12 row planters; four and six row combines; 60 to 155 h.p. tractors; 13 to 25 foot tillage discs; four to six bottom plows; skid steer loaders; lawn and garden equipment; and snowmobiles.

Hawkeye Diesel Service was founded in 1961 by Willis Puck. G.L. "Butch" Beckman, who began his diesel experience while in the military in WWII, attended factory training schools and was designated service manager. The need for diesel injection pump and nozzle repair became evident as the popularity of diesel tractors grew in the agricultural market.

The repair business began as a "corner of 8 backroom" operation. In 1971, the building which had housed the Hiway Cafe east on Highway 141, adjacent to Puck Implement Co., became the new home for Hawkeye Diesel Service.

The firm is the only such business in an 85-mile radius of Manning.

The business now has two full-time employees who operate four test machines. Hawkeye Diesel Service is authorized to do warranty and repair work for Roosamaster, Robert Bosch, American Bosch, G.M., C.A.V., and Nippondenso. The recent interest for diesel engines in automobiles and light trucks will provide additional need for the fuel injection repair business.

When Rudolph Kuhl had a dance floor in the grove on his farm? Farmers Union picnics were held and Milo Reno gave a Fourth of July address there.