Par-Kut - 50 years of Booth Building

May, 2005

The first request for a portable steel building arose in 1954. A durable newsstand was needed to accommodate concessions in Detroit, Michigan. Maurice Patterson, custom built one from sheet steel. That same year, delegates at a parking convention saw Patterson's newsstand and requested a portable parking booth.
Fifty years later, the company which was originally named Patterson Engineering and Fabricating, still makes booths, but not in the original garage. In 1955, Maurice displayed his invention at the NPA convention. With plenty of orders, he soon moved his operation to a larger facility.
During 1955, Fred Duemling worked for Patterson part-time while attending Wayne State University. After receiving his degree in 1958, Fred became a partner in Patterson's company and renamed it Par-Kut Engineering & Fabricating in reference to the manufacturing of "parking huts".
By 1960, Par-Kut booths were being delivered as far as Colorado and Utah via the Par-Kut delivery truck. Various booth layouts and options evolved according to demand and other market developed notably industrial security. That same year Par-Kut outgrew it's location and relocated in Harrison Twp. near Mt. Clemens, MI.
As market demands increased, factory additions were made and new buildings were purchased and leased. 1976 brought Bill Duemling, Fred's oldest son, to the company. In 1977, the corporation changed its name to Par-Kut International. Between the years of 1978 and 1980, production was divided between three locations and a booth would be transported to different buildings to have operations completed. In 1980 the present "south" building was purchased. Renovations were extensive, but soon all manufacturing operations were in one location.
In 1984, Tom Duemling joined Par-Kut as Marketing Manager. Continued growth required the purchase of property located immediately north of the existing facility. After construction, the new Par-Kut facility consisted of two adjacent buildings connected by a covered tunnel.
Bill and Tom became President and Vice President respectively in 1992. At this time the company began to fabricate different types of buildings for various applications. Included were highly custom toll booths, architectural styles and higher end bullet resistant structures. In January 2002, Tom Duemling became the President of Par-Kut with Bill Duemling assuming the role of Vice President.
In 2005 Par-Kut is proud to celebrate 50 years in business. The parking industry and business in general are quite different than 5 decades ago. Par-Kut plans to
continue their tradition of booths "built to order & built to last".