By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
What started out with four school buses that served three routes in the Brownsville area and one in the Caledonia area in 1975, has grown into a bus company that now includes 38 buses, 34 drivers, and transports students attending three different school districts in Southeast Minnesota.
“We basically cover everything from the Mississippi River to Harmony,” said Paul Schmitz, owner of Schmitz Bus Inc. of Caledonia. “With the three school districts, all the extra curricular activities, class trips, we log very close to 180,000 miles a year.”
Paul, who started working with his father in the bus business in 1990, recently bought his father John Schmitz out. Even though John officially handed the keys over to his son earlier this year, “I still come up here every day to help out. I’ve been doing this for so long, it’s hard not to stop by the shop each day…unless I’m down south for the winter,” the elder Schmitz said with a smile.
John Schmitz had been a milk hauler for 20 years. Unless a milk hauler can find a back-up driver, they work 24/7. The cows are milked twice a day, and the milk must be hauled to the creamery. In 1975, John Schmitz decided he needed a career change, and purchased four school buses from Dean and Henrietta Foltz. Three of the routes brought Brownsville-area students to Caledonia Area Public Schools. The other route was closer to Caledonia.
Things worked out pretty well with the first four buses, so the following year, John and his wife Gayle, who served as one of the bus drivers, purchased two more buses from the Foltz’s.
In 1990, the Schmitz Bus Company bought three more buses that served two area routes from Bob and Irene Hosch. That fall Paul joined his father in the business. The following year Schmitz Bus acquired three more routes from LeRoy and Bernice Meiners in the Eitzen area.
A major expansion took place in 1993 when John and Paul purchased 10 buses from Lee and Janene Johnson. The Schmitz Bus Company now had all the routes in the Caledonia Area School District, which takes up almost one third of Houston County.
“We had 18 routes back in the 1980s and 90s,” John recalled. “And the buses were full. Enrollment was a lot higher, families were larger. There were a lot more kids.”
John noted they currently have 14 bus routes that serve the district.
The Schmitz Bus Company continued serving Caledonia for the next 11 years, and then purchased eight buses and six routes from Gaylord and Mildred Halverson of Spring Grove. The following year, they bought the Mabel-Canton Public School’s fleet, and began offering student transportation for three school districts.
“We have seen a lot of growth,” John said, thinking back to 1975 and when he started with four buses. “We’ve had a lot of very dedicated employees, and still do today.”
Over the years John and Paul have done the majority of the service and mechanic work on the ever-growing fleet of buses. They purchase two new buses each year, to help keep the fleet as modern and reliable is possible. Both John’s wife Tina (his first wife passed away) and Paul’s wife Tracy, serve as drivers.
The biggest challenge providing bus transportation for three school districts that cover nearly 500 square miles is finding drivers for all the extra curricular activities. “We end up doing a lot of juggling,” Paul noted.
“Back when our kids were in school, I used to do a lot of the driving to games and matches,” John remembered. “I got to see a lot of athletic events.”
The Schmitz Bus Company not only covers a large area, it also provides transportation to students living in some of the most hilly terrain in the state.
“Yes, we do have a lot of steep hills and winding roads in our three school districts,” John said. “I think the hilliest area is around Freeburg. But the townships and counties have been so good to keep the roads up for us. It made such a difference when they started using more rock on the roads in the winter instead of salt and sand.”
The skyrocketing price of fuel has been another challenge. According to Paul, the local bus company used about 39,000 gallons of diesel fuel last year, and another 12,000 gallons of gas.
An extra dollar per gallon when you’re talking about those kinds of numbers adds up quickly, John and Paul agreed. “But the school districts realize what we are going through, and they have been working with us,” Paul said.
“I’ve really enjoyed driving bus all these years,” John said. “And I’ve been doing it so long that I’m hauling the kids of students I hauled 20 or 30 years ago.”
Both John and Paul stressed it’s the very dedicated drivers they have had over the years as one of the biggest reasons for their success. “We wouldn’t be where we are at without them,” John concluded, with Paul nodding in agreement.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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