Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
H & W MOTOR EXPRESS
H & W MOTOR EXPRESS. Company. Urban J. HAAS and Cyril WISSEL founded H & W Motor Express on September 26, 1927. The company was a one-truck operation running between Dubuque and Chicago. At the time of Haas' death in 1961, the company with 280 employees was a $3 million business operating in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and with connections from coast-to-coast and Canada.
With the leadership of Wissel and later Urban "Skip" Haas, the company grew through the 1970s and 1980s. At one time, the company had 543 employees and 900 trucks. H & W regularly ran freight to Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, and St. Louis with stops all over Iowa.
The company closed in 2002 after its owner and CEO Roger Waldner filed for bankruptcy protection. In 2006 he was charged with twelve counts of bankruptcy fraud in connection with H & W's liquidation. He later plead guilty to two of the twelve charges.