WINONA, Minn. – The Winona manufacturer Behrens, which has a global reputation for its metal buckets and tubs, broke ground for a new 23,000 square-foot addition on East Sanborn Street. Dana Busch, the company president, said that demand for Behrens products necessitated more warehouse and office space. Manufacturing space will be doubled, he said. The company also is growing its sales staff, he said.
Behrens profile
Henry Behrens, born in Germany, arrived in Winona in 1867 and opened a hardware store at Third and Grand streets. His son Henry J, when about 14 years old, tinkered and played upstairs with metal and recognized a new way to make household chores easier. His major innovation he called the “Cyclone Spinner” for washing clothes. The Behrens soon were in the metalware manufacturing business. Factorv space was acquired. Demand for Behrens galvanized oroducts grew, mostly buckets in many sizes and variations. Eventually the company moved to 125 East Sanborn Street on Winona’s Far East End.
Stamping metal into buckets. Always with the Behrens brand name pressed into the gavanized netal . The company has round 113 years, always in Winona.
Durability the selling point then and now. Plastics not in Behrens future. No way, says company President Dana Busch.