Rhodes Equipment Company was started in 1932 by Dusty Rhodes.  Dusty had moved to St. Louis from Worcester, MA and established his company as the Riley Stoker boiler erector for the St. Louis territory.  For the next 25 plus years, Rhodes Equipment Company was an engineer/contractor building small, industrial powerhouses.  In 1955, we built our last power house as the prime contractor at The Ohio Oil Company (now Marathon Petroleum) in Robinson, IL.  It was shortly thereafter that Dusty decided to transition from the contractor business to become a manufacturers’ representative in the power/steam generation industry.

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In the late 1950’s, Bill Baker, Sr., after working several years as an area engineer for Republic Flow Meter, was hired to work for Rhodes Equipment.  In the mid 1960’s, Bill Baker, Sr. purchased the company and guided it through the boom years of the 1970’s and early 80’s of the steam generation industry, making Rhodes Equipment Company one of the most respected rep agencies in the country.

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In 1981 Craig Tapperson (“TAP”) joined Rhodes Equipment right after graduating with his BSME from the University of Arkansas.  It was unheard of at the time for someone of this young age and no experience to jump right into the manufacturers’ representative business, but Bill Baker, Sr. knew exactly what he was doing with this hire.  “TAP” was a sales engineer like no other and he was the backbone of the company, serving as President for 20 years, up until severe health issues lead to his retirement 2014.

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The company is now owned jointly by Bill Baker, Jr and Rick Luetkemeyer both of who have over 25 years of experience in the industry and handle all outside sales functions.

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Rhodes Equipment Company prides itself on our integrity and our knowledge of the industries we cover, the companies we represent and the customers we serve.  We continue the business of supplying equipment to the utilities, refineries, and industrial plants in our area and take pride in the fact that we are one of the oldest and longest continuously operating representative firms in the industry. 

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July 2017 marks our 85th year in business!