Our History
Gar-Bro Manufacturing Company was founded by two brothers, Al and Les Garlinghouse, who were both Civil Engineers, in 1923. Its mission at the time was to provide much needed equipment to the booming construction industry in the early 20th century as the western United States grew. In the late 1920s, the Gar-Bro pneumatic tire equipped wheelbarrow was born, which set off our engineering and manufacturing journey. Gar-Bro developed and made the drop center wheel and Firestone made the tire and tube.
During the subsequent decades of the 20th century, Gar-Bro adapted to the changing needs of our customers around the United States. As the United States continued to grow and energy demands increased, flood control dams and hydroelectric dams began cropping up around the country. Gar-Bro developed self-dumping tower buckets and receiving hoppers that fed inclined suspended chutes to gravity flow the concrete to its destination. As crane and cableway lifting capacities increased in the mid 1930’s, Gar-Bro heavy duty low-slump concrete buckets became the go-to bucket all over North America and much of the world because of their robust build and unique engineering which made them dependable and long lasting. However, low slump buckets were only part of the story. As structures built with European style tower cranes came into fashion after WW II, contractors demanded lighter weight buckets without sacrificing the robustness and durability Gar-Bro is known for.
Enter the “TC Series” bucket which evolved into the “R Series” buckets of today. This line became so recognizable throughout the country, contractors began referring to these lightweight round buckets as “Garbros.” The look of the ubiquitous “R series” has become a part of our identity and recognizability to this day. So much so, it is a registered trademark used on advertising and marketing materials. Gar-Bro continues to innovate and refine our product line to customers’ ever evolving needs as the industry adapts to new technologies. With a full-service engineering department featuring licensed professional engineers, Gar-Bro has the capability to design specialty equipment for a variety of material transport uses. We are now into the fourth generation of Garlinghouse family ownership with the same honest customer service and attention to detail customers expect and deserve. We look forward to serving our customers for another 100 years.
