Fran Hunt in front of our downtown location, circa 1954.
| Hunt Cleaners, Inc. began production in 1951 in Cozad, Nebraska. Owned and operated by Fran and Jo Hunt, we were a small retail dry cleaner serving Cozad and the immediate surrounding area.
During a visit to a large local manufacturer in the early 1960s, Fran noticed a pile of oil and grease soaked gloves. He asked if he could try dry cleaning them at no cost to the company. This first successful trial order led Fran to invest time and attention to the field of industrial dry cleaning.
Fran found that not all work gloves would maintain their integrity when dry cleaned. In an effort to find gloves most suitable for cleaning, Hunt Cleaners expanded into the sale of new gloves.
Fran and Jo's youngest daughter, Judy Cumming, and her husband, Bruce, joined the family business in 1976. Bruce and Judy bought controlling interest in Hunt Cleaners in 1983. |
| At the same time, Hunt Cleaners was quickly out-growing the downtown location. In 1985 we moved from our small main street storefront to a larger facility.
The new facility provided us the opportunity to modify our offering of services and products. Under Bruce’s leadership we phased out the retail side of the business to become a solely industrial cleaner. We also expanded and diversified our personal protective equipment inventory to include hand protection, eye protection, respirators, protective apparel, disposable apparel, and hearing protection.
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Cozad location 1985 - 2004 |
| As Hunt Cleaners acquired accounts throughout the United States and the demand for our products and services grew, so did we. |
Newton Plant 1998 - Present |
The 1990s brought about some important additions to our company. The first two were the hiring of Mike Neill as Operations Manager (later General Manager) and the hiring of Jack Ortegren as Sales Manager.
Then, in the spring of 1998 we opened a second facility in Newton, Iowa. The addition of this facility more than doubled our cleaning capacity and provided an additional centrally located plant from which we easily service customer accounts. |
| Following Bruce's untimely death in 2000, Judy assumed the role of President. In November 2004 we celebrated the completion of a brand new facility in Cozad. The new plant surpasses our old one in size, productivity and safety measures.
2012 finds Hunt Cleaners continuing to grow and change. In April, Mike Neill and Jack Ortegren became the new owners after purchasing the business from Judy. We currently maintain a vast inventory of hand protection, eye protection, respirators, hearing protection, protective apparel and oil absorbents. We also serve customer accounts in over 40 states and multiple Canandian provinces. |
Cozad Plant 2004 - Present |
| Though Hunt Cleaners, Inc. has experienced many changes throughout our history, our commitment to you remains unchanged. Our cost-efficient dry cleaning, our ever-growing inventroy of personal protective equipment, and the careful handling of waste, matched with our friendly customer service, are the foundation from which we continue to seek out the best ways to serve you, our customer. |
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Industrial Dry Cleaning & Personal Protective Equipment
