MANCHESTER—As a college student in mechanical engineering, Aaron Kloefkorn decided to shift gears on what he wanted in life. Now he represents the fourth generation of Kloefkorns serving both nationally and abroad through manufacturing.
“It was a good fit,” he said about returning to his state line hometown of Manchester to help his parents Ron and Talotta Kloefkorn in the family business Manchester Manufacturing Company. When his dad retired, Aaron stepped into the manager seat.
Located off State Highway 132 on the west edge of the tiny town of Manchester, population 100 or so, Manchester Mfg Co.’s tagline is “engineering grain harvesting innovations since 1919.”
Aaron’s great uncle William “Uncle Bill” Kloefkorn crossed the Kansas-Oklahoma border from Caldwell, Kan., and bought a wheat farm northwest of Manchester along with Manchester Motor Co. in 1919. He renamed the company Manchester Mfg Co.
According to Talotta, who is the company’s bookkeeper still, Uncle Bill operated a garage, selling gas and oil as well as a full line of automotive and farm supplies. He also sold cars and implements, including tractors, combines, and drills. On top of that, he sold hardware and appliances such as radios, refrigerators, deep freezers, and later, televisions.
In the 1930s, Uncle Bill made improvements on grain raddles for the Minneapolis Moline pull combines. Later he made improvements for the Massey self-propelled combine feeder chains.
For those unfamiliar with combines, in the simplest of explanations, grain raddles are a chain assembly that help move the grain through the machine and separate the edible part of the grain from the useless bits often referred to as chaff.
Uncle Bill, Talotta said, revolutionized the grain raddle process, moving from wood slats and canvas to chains.
“He tinkered with it and improved it,” she said. He also improved the feeder chain in several aspects to carry the grain better.
Manchester Mfg Co. still operates in the same location it did when Uncle Bill started it, albeit with different buildings since the original structure burned in 1949.
The following year, in 1950, Uncle Bill’s two bachelor sons, Earl and Mel, joined the family business. They expanded the company to include a full line of hardware, plumbing, automotive, and short-line implements.
Like their father, the brothers were innovative. Among their accomplishments were the patent for the Hillside Raddle, a roller chain steel slat grain raddle which holds grain while harvesting on a hillside, and the patent for the Force Feed Feeder Chain, which is an aftermarket improvement in the feeding of all combines.
Today that feeder chain is the primary component of Manchester Mfg Co.’s business, Talotta said, adding they manufacture them right there in Manchester and ship them across the United States and overseas.
They sell products to all clients: individual farmers, small businesses, and corporations. Many of their regular customers aren’t even in Oklahoma or Kansas, but rather elsewhere in the nation. One of their best clients, Talotta said, is a dealership in North Carolina. And they’ve shipped to other countries including Australia and England.
Uncle Bill passed in 1958. His sons continued on with manufacturing, selling cars and implements, and running the hardware store.
In 1978, Earl and Mel asked their second cousin Ron and his wife Talotta to come assist in the family business. Ron already had his own welding shop, Talotta said, when he joined Manchester Mfg. Earl passed that same year.
Ron and Talotta became official partners in the company with Mel in 1986. Their teenage children, Aaron and Jacque, also became partners in the company in 1998. Mel passed in 2000.
Around that time, Ron picked up the mantle of farming innovation with his self-propelled weed wipers, which wipes weed killer on the weeds rather than spraying it, and front mount boom systems.
While Aaron said he has nothing innovative in mind at the moment, he stays busy thanks to diverse legacy his great uncle, his cousins, and his dad have left for him.
To this day, Manchester Mfg Co. builds feeder chains, raddles, customized feed wagon and manure spreader chains, weed wipers, and boom assemblies. Aaron also repairs equipment in-house and on site service calls alongside repairing or refurbishing anything with a motor including vintage vehicles, semis, backhoes, and boats. Plus, he sells tires for any vehicle, big or small.
All of it Aaron does himself with one part-timer and occasionally his mother.
“We keep going,” he said, “and we appreciate our loyal customers.”
Someday Talotta said she will retire. She said some days she’s ready after spending long hours staying late doing the books. Yet other days, she said she likes coming to work and having something to do rather than sitting at home.
Her two young grandsons—one is Aaron’s and one is Jacque’s—stay in grandma’s office during the summer and “assist” Dad/Uncle Aaron in the shop. Both have just entered school and are the best of friends as cousins.
The boys like being at the shop, Talotta and Aaron both commented, so it’s quite possible when they come of age, they will carry on as the fifth generation of Kloefkorns at Manchester Manufacturing Company.