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Farm Horizons • Feb. 6, 2017 • Page 4
Plato garage goes from horsepower to horse products
By Marie Zimmerman
A building on Plato’ s Main Street that once housed the horsepower of Farmall tractors and GM cars is now home to a local manufacturer of products for horses. Great Oak Equine hand crafts fencing, pens, hay feeders and other oak products. It’ s owned by Stephen Tusha.
Tusha was driving through Plato when he happened upon the old Plato Garage, which had sat unused since 1989. An inquiry at city hall led to the building’ s purchase; Tusha closed on it late last year. Plato has been a welcoming community, Tusha said, and he plans to expand his business there.
Built in the 1920s, the Plato Garage followed a blueprint for GM Dealers that could be found in small towns across the country. It also served as a Farmall dealer, said Tusha, who took an interest in the history of the place. The triangular front showroom is flanked by enormous panes of glass looking onto the crossroads of Plato’ s main streets. The room opens to the manufacturing floor through sliding doors. Two cars could be
driven into the show room. The original hoists and lifts remain in the back, and have been put to use moving heavy lumber.
A Minnesota kid with an English literature major from the University of Minnesota, Tusha’ s career has been spent in general contracting and design. He and his wife, Connie, live in Waconia and own four horses. Great Oak Equine was inspired by Tusha’ s horses, and a pen he built for them.
“ I didn’ t have any money and I couldn’ t afford my own round pen,” Tusha said.“ That was thousands of round pens ago.”
He started selling his pens on Craigslist. Then he leased a barn near Waconia, complete with company mascot Maggie the barn cat, who also made the move to Plato when demand outgrew the space in the barn.
Tusha’ s team of four employees receives a semi load of dense white oak boards about every two weeks, sourcing from 10 different sawmills to keep up with demand. On average, they turn out four round pens a week, but
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