sept-2017

268 269 CONTINENTAL MOTORS GROUP BALLARD TRUCK CENTERS DOING THE RIGHT THING B allard Truck Centers, a family- owned-and-operated business with four New England locations, began life in 1906 as a blacksmith shop in the small town of Millbury,Massachu- setts.“I had a great-great-uncle who was a blacksmith and got into carriage repairs and then, at the dawn of the automobile, he transitioned into automobile repairs, and eventually, sales,” recounts Company President, Steve Grahn.That ancestor was Louis Ballard and the original name of his business was L.H. Ballard’s Garage, or as the locals would say: “The Ballards.” Louis Ballard’s garage was the first au- tomobile repair shop betweenWorcester and Blackstone-a distance of more than 40 miles. By the 1920s, as more and more auto- mobiles hit the road, the repair business TRUCK CENTERS AT A GLANCE BALLARD TRUCK CENTERS WHAT: A family-owned and operated business with four New England locations WHERE: Headquarters in Worcester, Massachusetts WEBSITE: www.ballardtrucks.com