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1956
C.L. Werner’s entrepreneurial spirit guided him from the family farm to Omaha, Nebraska. Using his car as a down payment, C.L. bought a 1956 Ford truck and began hauling within Nebraska then hauling interstate. C.L.’s first son, Gary, entered the world in 1957 and would become the first of four children to help transform the family business into a billion dollar operation.
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1959
C.L. officially named his company Werner Enterprises in 1959. With the purchase of his first diesel truck, C.L. began to see the future of his company before his eyes. While growing a business, the young businessman was also growing a family. In 1959, C.L. welcomed his second child, son Greg.
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1964
In 1964, C.L. Werner moved his company out of his 900 square foot home and into a little shop on property costing $25,000 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. With a fleet of a dozen metallic blue trucks, Werner Enterprises became a shining example of hard work paying off. But the brightest star of the year was the birth of his son, Curt Werner.
By the late 1960’s, C.L.’s two oldest sons, Gary and Greg, were becoming interested in their father’s company. C.L. even started a small business for the children, affectionately called Gra-Gar. The small company, which leased out equipment, would later merge with Werner Enterprises further strengthening the family business bonds.
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1971
C.L. made his first big truck purchase of ten freightliners in 1971. He also expanded the Werner family to include his first office employee, Sharon Curry, whose office landed in the tire shop. As the Werner team began to grow, so did its customer base. Werner captured Maytag, its first Fortune 500 customer in 1975.
