Dilks, Henry Franklin

DILKS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/23/2021 at 10:28:33

Source: History of Warren County, Iowa, by Gerard Schultz and Don L. Berry, The Record and Tribune Co., Indianola, Iowa, 1953, p.297

HENRY FRANKLIN DILKS
H. F. (Gus) Dilks, former Ford tractor and Dearborn farm machinery dealer, was born at Centerview, Mo., Feb. 10, 1900, the son of Harry G. and Sarah E. Dilks. On May 17, 1934, he married Vera Lela Andruss, daughter of Henry Harvey and Minnie Myrtle Andruss. Mrs. Dilks was born at Centerview, Mo., Nov. 8, 1906. Sylvia Darlene, only child of Mr. and Mrs. Dilks, was born Oct. 16, 1937.
Mr. Dilks came to Warren County in 1932, and went into business at Scotch Ridge with only $75 in his pocket. He started with a filling station and then operated a general trucking business and later a milk route. In 1940 Gus Dilks became a dealer for Ford Ferguson tractors and farm implements, but held the milk route until 1943 when he sold it and bought an old garage building on U. S. Highways 65 and 69 at the north edge of Indianola. In 1944 he remodeled the building. In 1946 he added a large modern shop at the rear; in 1947 he built a large frame warehouse; in 1948 he built an addition and modernized the main building. Early in 1952 he sold his business and bought a farm southeast of Indianola.