Kress Corporation was founded by Edward S. Kress in October, 1965. Two months after being founded, Kress made its first contribution to the mobile equipment industry. A slag pot carrrier for the Edward C. Levy Company was delivered. The carrier picked up, transfered, poured and skulled slag pots from the Great Lakes 300 ton BOF furnaces. It was an immediate success and within a few months there was an order for ten more carriers. The company's next contribution was a slab carrier, the first of its kind, for the Ford Motor steel plant. It picked up and carried 100 tons of steel slabs and coils. Kress Corporation then built its first coal hauler in 1971. A single unit, bottom dump, coal hauler. Again, the first of its kind. Built for the Captain Mine of Southwestern Illinois Coal Corporation.