1953-1978: The next 25 Years of Tuttle Construction, Inc.
In our previous post we took a look at the first 25 years of Tuttle Construction in honor of celebrating our anniversary. Let’s continue that jump back into time, but focus into the next 25 years of the company.
As stated in the previous post, Herb Tuttle had a son named Thomas Tuttle. Thomas Tuttle was born in 1920, he was a native to Allen County and graduated from Lima Central High School. In 1942 he earned his degree in Economics at Oberlin College. He then furthered his education at West Point with a military and engineering degree. He then resigned from his position in the military, but continued to serve our country in Frankfort, Germany and Paris, France.
Thomas then returned to Lima and started his own lumber yard, called Tuttle Lumber Co. His sister Phyllis (Tuttle) Hill would be the vice president of the lumber company. Tuttle Lumber Co. was located at 333 E. Market Street, Lima, Ohio. He then later sold the lumber business in which came to be known as Crouse Lumber Lima, which still runs at the same location today.
In 1954 Thomas joined his father in the construction company. After joining him in the family business they incorporated and renamed the company to H.U. Tuttle & Son, Inc.
In 1955, Clyde “Tiny” Rauch Sr. joined the company. Tiny started out as a journeyman millwright, then moving to field superintendent, and would later finish his career as the vice president. Tiny was an inspirational force at Tuttle, many worked with him during his 44 years of service as a valuable mentor. He was a dedicated leader that would greet everyone with a smile and was a friend to all.
One of the first projects on record that Thomas would have been a part of was the construction of Lima Senior high school in 1955. The rumor has it that when they built the auditorium, they built it on quicksand. In 1966 Tuttle completed the following projects: Lima Campus OSU Branch, Carlton House Apartments, and Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., in Ottawa, Ohio. An old ad in the Lima News from 1966 confirmed the first project to date with Mercy Health St. Rita’s. The project was titled St. Rita’s Phase 1, this would mark 57 years of partnership with Mercy Health St. Rita’s.
In 1968, Herb Tuttle stepped down as President/CEO of the company. Thomas took over his father’s position. The next year Clyde Rauch, who would later become sole owner of Tuttle, came to work for Tuttle in the field. Clyde graduated from high school on a Sunday and came to work for Tuttle that next day (Monday). He then attended Taylor University to pursue a business administration degree. He continued to work for Tuttle every summer of college. Upon his graduation, the country was in a recession, resulting in fewer job opportunities and Clyde decided to put his gloves back on to work in the field, after having earned his bachelor’s degree.
Then, in 1975 Thomas Tuttle asked Clyde to be his right-hand man. This resulted in a new job opportunity for Clyde and the start of him climbing the ladder of the company.
