It remained here for almost a century where its employees worked alongside a 10-ton traveling crane and power tools for cutting and punching to operate the steelwork and blacksmith facilities.

During the Great Depression, which started in 1929 and continued into the 1930s, Roosevelt’s New Deal called for highways to be modified and rebuilt, giving jobs to thousands of struggling Americans.

Throughout the war, America had been growing its own fruits and vegetables at home to be able to conserve and send more food to the soldiers overseas.

Originally created as a cooled produce van, the trailer used a wet ice bunker and a gas engine blower system.

When Eisenhower signed the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act in 1956, the federal government began regulating truck size and weight.

Once the Interstate Highway System was established, Great Dane was challenged to build longer and bigger trailers, while continuously making them lighter.

By 1961, Great Dane joined the railroad industry, manufacturing its first piggyback trailer for easier transportation of goods.

In 1974, Great Dane grew even further by building a manufacturing plant in Brazil, Indiana, that originally focused solely on vans and the western/mid-western business spheres.

That year also marked the completion of the 10,000 square foot Savannah Engineering Research Lab built for testing of design and construction, which allowed the facility to double production.

In 1982, Great Dane installed computer-controlled road simulation equipment that the Research and Development Lab in Savannah, Georgia, still uses today.

In 1996, Great Dane opened a dry van plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, as well as an adjacent parts distribution center.

In January 2009, Great Dane closed its original manufacturing plant in Savannah, Georgia, that had been open since 1919 due to the economic hit the company took during the recession.

A change in leadership was made in 2011 as President and COO Phil Pines retired from the company after more than 50 years of service in the trailer industry.

In 1980, Great Dane installed computer-controlled Road Simulation Equipment in the Research and Development facility located at the Savannah, Georgia, plant.

The first insulated and cooled trailer dates back to the early 1940s, when the company built the first produce van that was equipped with a wet ice bunker powered by a gas engine-and-blower system.

In the late 1950s, Great Dane introduced the Dual Temp reefer which allowed frozen food to be held in the rear and produce in the front.

In 2002, Great Dane demonstrated huge strides in engineering and technology when the SSL dry freight van was added to the product line.

Of Great Dane’s dry freight sales in 2006, more than 20,000 trailers were SSL models, accounting for nearly 15 percent of the industry’s total shipments in 2006.

Great Dane produces its products at manufacturing plants located in Jonesboro, Arkansas; Statesboro, Georgia; Kewanee, Illinois; Brazil, Indiana; Terre Haute, Indiana; Wayne, Nebraska; Danville, Pennsylvania; Elysburg, Pennsylvania; Huntsville, Tennessee; and Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

Great Dane branches are located in the following cities: Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Bolingbrook, Illinois; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Jacksonville, Florida; Knoxville, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; Miami, Florida; Mount Joy, Pennsylvania; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Springdale, Arkansas; and Tampa, Florida.