In 1949, Harry S. Truman was inaugurated as president of the United States. The same year, Rihm Motor Co. (now known as Rihm Kenworth) was appointed as Kenworth's first truck dealership east of the Mississippi. Fifty years later, the St. Paul, MN-based dealership is still going strong.
According to John Rihm, president of Rihm Kenworth and grandson of the founder, all the dealership had to do back then was sell four Kenworth trucks to become a dealer. "Kenworth's sales manager came to my grandfather and had four trucks that had been originally spec'd for a heavy-haul operation in Mexico. He said, 'If you can sell these trucks, we'll sign you up as Kenworth dealer.' Well, it didn't take long. We sold them all to a petroleum hauler and the rest is history. Since then, we've sold tens of thousands of Kenworth trucks."
St. Paul's oldest truck dealership (founded in 1932), Rihm now occupies a full city block on University Avenue (Rihm's third location since its inception). Rihm Kenworth not only offers new and used trucks, but offers 24-hour service, five days a week. Last year, Rihm Kenworth added a full-service branch located in Duluth, MN/Superior, WI.
For more information, visit Kenworth's web site at http://www.kenworth.com/kw or Rihm Kenworth's site at http://www.rihmkenworth.com.