Havre Laundry: Strong after 115 years

Havre Laundry and Dry Cleaning is the oldest laundry business in the state and one of the oldest family-owned businesses in Northern Montana, and the business is still adapting and changing for the future.

"It's a source of pride, it's a source of motivation as well," owner Ron Brenna said.

Havre Laundry was first established in 1904 and was started with six different partners, he said. He added that he had no relation to the original six partners. After the business was first started one of the partners started buying out the rest of the partners in the business and became the sole owner of Havre Laundry. 

Brenna said that the business has been in the same location since it started 115 years ago, and parts of the building, although it has gone through renovations, are still original.

Havre Laundry has updated a number of things to increase efficiency, such as purchase new equipment and increase the technology used, but some parts of the business are still very traditional.

The business started off as a small steam laundry and bath business, it being one of the only places in town to have steam and hot water, Brenna said. The business used to get a variety of customers in the area, such as the cowboy roughnecks, railroaders and even some of the women from the brothel, who came to the business for hot baths. He added that his grandfather Ralph A. Sleeter moved to Havre in 1934 and started working for Havre Laundry. 

When the business first started, Brenna said, the delivery vehicles were horse drawn carriages.

In 1942, Sleeter bought the company, Brenna said. Sleeter's son James and son-in-law Neil Brenna, Ron Brenna's father, joined him in the business in 1953.

Brenna said that his father also served in the U.S. Navy and graduated from Montana State University with a degree in industrial engineering. While in college Neil Brenna worked at the family business during the summers and school breaks.

In 1962, Ralph A. Sleeter retired, leaving the business to James Sleeter and Neil Brenna, Ron Brenna said. In 1962, James Sleeter left the business to pursue other ventures in construction, including Beaver Creek Golf Course west of Havre, the 4B's building and the Ryan Building. 

Those are not the only relatives who have worked at Havre Laundry.

"There has been a lot of family members who have worked here over the years," Brenna said.

He added that his father was a great businessman and grew the business while he was the owner. He said that his dad was a wealth of knowledge and had a great mechanical knowledge that helped operations at the business run smoothly.

"I learned from him," he said. "It was great. He's a wealth of knowledge - you don't take that lightly - so having my dad around is one of the reasons the company has been as successful as it has been for 115 years," he said.

His father passed a number of life lessons on to him, he said, such as a strong work ethic and fiscal responsibility. He added that he is not as mechanically inclined as his father, but he still lives by one of the things his father would regularly say.

"If something isn't working right, he would always say, 'They didn't make it broke, let's fix it,'" Brenna said.

He said he has a lot of memories about the business growing up, including when the business caught fire in 1974. He said he remembers going through linens and other items after the fire.

Brenna said he has been with the company his whole life, and although his father ran a great business, when he started at the business in 1982 he didn't want to just sit idly by, he wanted to make his own mark on the company.

He added that he worked part-time for the business prior to 1982 while he was attending college, during breaks and summer vacations. Brenna attended Montana State University before transferring to Northern Montana College, now Montana State University-Northern, graduating with a degree in business.

When Brenna first started working at Havre Laundry he was working under his father, shadowing him and learning from him, he said. Working with his father was easy, he added, because it was cut and dried, he was the boss. He said he respected his father greatly, partly because he was his father, but also because he was his boss.

In 1992 their father retired, Brenna said, and his oldest brother, Jim, later joined the business. His brother graduated from Montana State University with a degree in engineering similar to their father.

Brenna said that working with his brother was different from working with his father. When his father owned the business, his father was clearly the boss. The situation was different, with Ron Brenna being the youngest of four siblings and Jim Brenna his oldest brother, but they made it work.

His brother semi-retired from the business in 2009. Brenna has been the sole owner of the business for the past 10 years.

"We still have a close family," Brenna said, adding that they still spend a lot of time with each other.

He said that his father and brother still regularly come in and are still partially involved.

Another reason the business has been able to do so well over the 115 years it has been in operation is the employees, he said. He added that they have a number of long-standing employees, many at the business since the late 1980s.

"We are very dependent on our people," Brenna said.

He said the business has grown and changed over the years, always adapting to the changing market. He added that his wife, Mayke, also started a direct sale company operating within Havre Laundry, which sells logo wear and other items to more than 11 states.

He said that in the past 15 to 20 years Havre Laundry has grown exponentially. From 2003 to 2016, the business grew 250 percent, he said, adding that the business has a service radius of 30,000 square miles, but its home base is always and will always be in Havre.

The business has scaled back since 2016 but it has also increased efficiency, he said. He added that the business is always changing and adapting for the future and the business does much more than just laundry and dry cleaning, such as offering cleaning supplies and dust control items and cleaning, such as rugs and mops.

"We have to keep expanding and doing what we are doing," he said.

The laundry market is constantly changing and going through cycles and if businesses don't change with the times and adapt they tend to be left behind, Brenna said.

He said that Havre is not a Bozeman or Missoula, but Havre Laundry has been able to succeed because of the community. He said he raised his family in Havre and, as a business owner and as an individual, has been involved with a number of things in the community. Havre Laundry also is one of longest-standing members of the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce.

"You volunteer, and you do what you do, because that's what you do in a small-town community," Brenna said. "We are very thankful to the people in Havre and them helping us stay alive for as long as we have." 

He added that he has seven children, although he doesn't know if they will want to be involved with the family business. 

He doesn't know what the future holds for the business, but one thing is for sure, Havre Laundry is not going anywhere anytime soon, he said.

"Small-town ethics, small-town feel, small-town everything," Brenna said.