From the Rosetown history book "Rosetown Reflections"
- an article submitted by Norm Peterson


Midwest Tire & Battery Ltd.


In October 1961, Norman Peterson moved from Saskatoon to Rosetown to start a new business. Having five years experience in the tire industry and seeing a need for this type of service in a farming community, Norm introduced Midwest Tire and Battery to the Rosetown area. Goodyear tires were sold at that time by Thompson Auto Supply but only supplied as parts - no service or installation was available.

Being located on Hwy #4 in the former Horosko Construction building across from the Rosetown Arena was a real benefit, as the rink is a hub of activity in the winter. However, Norm recalls 1961 as being a drought year and the agriculture economy was quite depressed.

In 1962 at the end of the school year, the rest of the Peterson family moved to Rosetown. The family of five moved a two-bedroom mobile home on to the Midwest Tire yard site to start their adventure. Living in the same yard as the business kept Norm quite busy since you never actually "left work to go home."

The next four or five years were very good for the farming community which translated into busier times for Norm. He now employed three men as well as having his better half, Kay, doing most of the book work.

In 1967 Norm decided that in order to service his customers properly he needed a larger facility. Construction was started to roughly double the size of the shop and warehouse. The expansion enabled Midwest Tire to offer a full range of automotive service including suspension repair and alignment.




The alignment service at this level was something new and revolutionary. Since that time many changes have come about such as laser and computerized alignments.

In 1973 Norm's oldest son Terry started working full time with tires. At first Norm had him installing rear tractor tires on farms, in fields, or wherever tractor breakdowns occurred. As time went on, Terry trained other employees how to do tractor tire work while he concentrated on more of the "in house" chores. He still enjoys doing these chores to this day.

Six years later came the return of the youngest son, Keith. He too manned the service truck and then became the alignment technician. As time marched on, Keith found he had more jobs to do in the sales area of the shop, so a designated alignment technician was hired. Business had grown to the point were more staff was needed to keep things rolling smoothly. Today, they have nine full time staff members.

Over 40 years have passed since Norm started his journey into this competitive business. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company recognized this feat as a rare occurrence in small business today. Midwest Tire is a model dealership that is consulted by many others for advice in creating similar dealerships elsewhere in Canada.

We at Midwest Tire are proud of Norm and Kay for their many years of work that it took to make this a successful business. We are also thankful that Rosetown and the surrounding area have the confidence in our products and service knowledge to keep our business a thriving part of our community.