10-4 Magazine October 2020

Cover Feature: By Daniel J. Linss (now TKNG Transit) was there when it all began, and is still one of their prime haulers out of the Carlinville facility all these years later. Nelson Gwillim passed away in 1994 and then his wife Elizabeth took over the company, with help from their two sons, including Tyler’s grandpa Jim Gwillim. When Tyler and his dad Mickey moved back to Carlinville in 2007, Mickey and his brother bought the business, along with Nelson and Elizabeth’s home and property, which is where the company was based. Tyler’s great grandparents built their home on this property in 1962 and the shop behind it in 1971, and Tyler’s dad Mickey spent a lot of time there after his parents got a divorce when he was a kid. Moving into that same house in 2007, Mickey and Tyler built a life there – along with a lot of cool trucks out back in the shop – the same shop two other generations of Gwillims built trucks in, too. For some, image is everything, but for others, it’s just an added bonus! Tyler Gwillim (22) of Carlinville, IL has that phrase painted on the back of the visor on his cool “new” truck, and it definitely rings true. But, more importantly, this young fifth-generation trucker (yea, you read that right) has the integrity and work ethic to back up that image he puts out there. This young man has been immersed in the world of trucks and trucking his entire life through the past four generations of his family – along with a bunch of other trucking legends – but mostly by his dad, Mickey, whom Tyler idolizes. Born in 1998 and raised in central Illinois, Tyler and his parents lived in Waverly, IL until they got divorced in 2006. Getting full custody of his son, Mickey and Tyler moved to Carlinville, IL the following year, where most of their family and their family business – Gwillim Trucking – was based. But this story does not start here. To get back to the true beginning, we need to go back to the late 1920s and early 1930s, when Tyler’s great great grandfather George Gwillim started hauling freight in a straight truck. Back then, if you had any type of truck, you’d haul anything and everything, and that’s what George did. The fruit did not fall far from the tree, and George’s son Nelson Gwillim formed Gwillim Trucking in 1939. The carrier number the ICC issued for his company was a short three-digit number (798) – and it is still active today. In fact, it is the oldest continuously active number in the state of Illinois. Back then, the company specialized in hauling rock and shelling corn. Nelson’s first trucks were gasoline-powered International dump trucks, but he was known to buy just about anything. Over the years, in addition to the Internationals, he had all sorts of trucks including Freightliners, GMCs and Kenworths, but one thing was consistent – they were all Detroit-powered with straight pipes. In 1942, after being hired to spread gravel in their parking lot by hand with a shovel, Tyler’s great grandpa Nelson began hauling canned milk for Producers Creamery of Carlinville, which had just opened in 1938. Shortly thereafter, Gwillim Trucking became the main hauler for this outfit, which changed its name to Prairie Farms Dairy in 1962. Starting solely with butter, the company now manufactures and sells dozens of products including milk, cheese, ice cream, juices, sour cream, dips and more. Today, Prairie Farms is a huge corporation with over 5,700 employees, operating 44 manufacturing plants and over 100 distribution facilities in 15 states, with annual revenues around $3 billion – and Gwillim Trucking 10 10-4 Magazine / October 2020 IMAGE IS EVERYTHING