OUR HISTORY

Welcome to Hyster Company in Greenville, North Carolina. We hope your visit with us is informative and enlightening. Few companies today can claim the rich heritage and success of Hyster Company. Started in 1929 in Portland, Oregon, during the beginning of America's Great Depression, the then Willamette Ersted Company's first products were winches and lifting machines. It was not the best of times for any company, but business for the new firm grew steadily. The Pacific Northwest was logging and timber country and demanded rough, tough and dependable machines. It was a good match for the new firm.

As loggers prepared a load, the cry "Hoist'er" was heard when everything was secured and ready to be lifted. That slang expression quickly became associated with the new machines and, in 1934 the name "Hyster" replaced the Willaimette Ersted name on company letterhead.

As the Hyster product line expanded, so did its operations. In 1936, a Hyster parts depot and finished products warehouse was established 2,000 miles east of Portland in Peoria, Illinois. Among the Hyster products manufactured during the '30s were the famous "BT" line and massive Karry Kranes, which were found in every seaport in the United States. Events in Europe were soon to change that.