About the Museum

It all started more than 20 years ago when a group of dedicated towing professionals, the Friends of Towing, decided to recognize outstanding individuals in the towing and recovery industry worldwide, record the industry’s history, collect and display artifacts and memorabilia in a museum setting, and provide information about the industry to the public. The first Hall of Fame class consisted of 27 members and today has grown to include over 300 distinguished towing professionals.

In its humble beginnings, the Friends of Towing displayed the Hall of Fame and Museum in a semi-trailer and drove it to and from towing and recovery industry trade shows across the country. In 1995 when it came time to settle down in one permanent location, the organization decided on the scenic city of Chattanooga, TN. Chattanooga had been credited as the birthplace of the tow truck thanks to inventor Ernest Holmes Sr. Holmes and his son Ernest Holmes Jr. would go on to establish a major towing manufacturer named the Ernest Holmes Company. Today, the museum has evolved from the humble Friends of Towing into the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum.

In 2006, the museum dedicated a memorial, The Wall of the Fallen, in honor of men and women who had lost their lives in the line of service. In 2007, at the first Wall of the Fallen dedication service, 94 names where added. Since its establishment, the names of towing operators who have lost their lives are added to the wall during a special ceremony in September.

The International Towing Museum is the only place in the world that offers a close encounter with a tow truck that is actually fun, positive, and nostalgic.

Museum Hours of Operation:
Gallery Tours
Mon – Sun: 9:00 – 4:30

Gift Shop Hours
Mon – Sun: 9:00 – 5:00

Closed on these Holidays:
Easter Sunday,  July 4th,  Thanksgiving Day,  Christmas Eve,  Christmas Day,  New Years Day

Pricing:
Adults – $10.00
Seniors (55 or older) – $9.00
Military – $8.50
AAA – $8.50
Children 6 – 14 – $6.00
Children under 5 are free.

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Mission Statement

The International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc, is dedicated to:

A. Recording the history of our industry through the publication of books, periodicals and historical records and other documents and,

B. Collecting and restoring and displaying the artifacts and memorabilia of our industry through our ongoing Museum Program and,

C. Providing an Information Center (the “Museum”) for the enlightenment of the general public regarding the many valuable contributions to society, worldwide, made by the towing and recovery industry. The towing and recovery industry serves the public by towing or removing damaged, disabled, abandoned, seized, repossessed or impounded vehicles from highway or other place by means of a wrecker boom, hoist, tow bar, tow line, dolly tilt bed, or other similar means of vehicle transfer without its own power or control.

D. Honoring those persons who have made unselfish and significant contributions to our industry in particular, or to mankind in general by induction into the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and/or by recognition through other means.

E. Honoring those persons who have lost their lives in the line of service to our industry by enshrining those names upon the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum’s Wall of the Fallen.

F. Providing financial support to the families of those persons who have lost their lives in the line of service to our industry by providing a method through which those families receive a financial gift from the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum’s Survivor Fund.

FEATURED EXHIBITS

The current business owners Scott & Michelle Graham purchased the truck in 1987 for Scott’s father Mark Graham. It is a tribute truck to his grandfather Olen Graham’s 1950 Chevrolet wrecker. Mark then restored the truck… Read More

I read an article in one of Bill Jackson’s newsletters during the early 1980s that the 1966 Kauff “Mean Machine,” a fabled Holmes 850 fitted to an Autocar chassis that once was part of the… Read More

Miller Motors was a DeSoto and Plymouth Distributor an hour and a half SW of Minneapolis, located in Mankato, MN. The management was wise enough to have an eye-catching tow truck built that served as… Read More

When Tim Stoltz was just two years old, his father, Frank, opened a body shop. Part of that operation was towing, which led Frank to a 1955 Chevrolet 3/4-ton wrecker. But what started as a… Read More