The Forest City businessman who put a small Iowa town at the center of America's road-trip dreams.
In 1958 John K. Hanson, a Forest City furniture and appliance dealer, helped recruit a California travel-trailer maker to town to create local jobs — then took over the venture himself.
He named it Winnebago Industries after the county, pioneered assembly-line motorhome production to make RVs affordable, and turned Forest City, Iowa, into the RV capital of America.
Winnebago became so iconic that its name is often used as a generic term for a motorhome. The company anchored the economy of a small northern-Iowa town for generations and remains one of the best-known names in American recreation.
The Hanson family's civic role in Forest City — jobs, philanthropy, and pride — long outlasted John K. Hanson himself.
Winnebago Industries is based in Forest City, Iowa. A publicly traded RV maker (NYSE: WGO) still headquartered in Forest City
1958.
John K. Hanson — the driving force who founded and built Winnebago Industries
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