The Buttler Construction office is at 203 S. Second St., Guthrie Center.
By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times, May 2025
Rick Buttler enjoys the long history of his business in Guthrie Center.
“Buttler Construction is the oldest family-owned business in the county,” Buttler said. “We’re actually one year older than the Guthrie County State Bank.”
The business was started in 1930 by Buttler’s grandfather, Kenneth Hugh Buttler, Sr. Later, Kenneth Hugh Buttler, Jr. took over the business.
Buttler enjoys telling the stories of the early days of Buttler Construction.
“I’ve got Grandpa’s hand-written ledgers of payroll in the 1930s,” Buttler said. “Grandpa started on coal with one truck. He was making some money when the war came along, and he wanted to get another truck, but at that time you had to go to the rationing board to get a new truck. The guy laughed at him, and my grandpa was never one to shy away from a challenge.”
According to the story, the rationing board representative was not receptive to the request for another truck.
“The guy said, ‘You may as well ask for half a dozen, because you’re not going to get them,’ ” Buttler said. “So, my grandpa asked for a half a dozen, and he got them. That pretty much got us into the real trucking business.”
From there, the expansion continued.
“Somewhere along the line, my grandpa bought a rock crusher, and that became our primary business — probably about 70% of what we did,” Buttler said. “We did Guthrie County, and even Dallas County for 42 years.”
Buttler said hauling lime for farm fields kept the crew busy through the winters when actual construction was slow.
Other members of the family also worked for the company.
“My grandpa had two brothers. Uncle Pearl was pretty much the day-to-day foreman. My uncle Wayne was the mechanic for 50-some years,” Buttler said. “My dad went into the Navy, so we left around 1961, and then he retired in 1980.
“In 1991, Grandpa died, and, after that, the business was incorporated. My sister and I each had 25%, and my parents had 50%,” Buttler said. “I was in the Army at the time, and I retired from the Army in 1995. I’ve been here ever since.”
The 1990s saw a surge in business for Buttler Construction.
“The two best years this business ever had was 1993 and 1994, for a couple of reasons,” Buttler said. “First, the flood. And second, that’s about the time that the CRP program (Conservation Reserve Program) came into existence, and if you’ve got crop acres into CRP, you have to put lime on them.”
In 2001, Buttler bought out his parents’ interest in the company. At that time, Buttler Construction had 17 trucks. But changes in Buttler’s health and changes to the business were right around the corner.
When a massive snowfall caused the collapse of a roof, Buttler rebuilt on the spot and started renting out units for storage.
Then Buttler was diagnosed with throat cancer. Despite the setbacks, Buttler considers himself an optimist, and he looks back on previous challenges and sees the good that came from them.
“The farm crisis and my diagnosis of throat cancer are the two best things that ever happened to me,” Buttler said. “The farm crisis put me back in the Army, so now I get a nice Army pension check and all my medical bills didn’t cost me a dime. And I went from 358 to 238 in weight because I had seven weeks of radiation.”
Nowadays, although Buttler still has a fleet of trucks, most sit unused. And whereas the business once employed around 25 workers, that number has dwindled. Nowadays, most of the requests for rock are individuals needing a truckload of gravel or similar small jobs.
“Basically, the world has caused this business to not be viable anymore. Right now, I’ve got one fulltime guy, and a couple of parttime guys and me.”
As the construction work has decreased, the storage unit business has grown.
“I’ve got 61 storage units, and it’s been good. I am full,” Buttler said. “If I can keep them full, it’s a good business.”
Looking back over his career and life, Buttler keeps a realistic attitude, knowing that challenges are inevitable.
“I had a person ask me to categorize where I started in life, and where I’m at now. That’s easy — tumbleweed,” he said. “I never planned on coming back to Iowa. I never planned on going back into the Army. I never planned on owning a construction business. I never planned on raising purebred cows since 1979. I sure didn’t plan on being in the storage business. Life throws curves, and I’ve been hit by a few pitches.” n