1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Nebraska to Manitoba was ‘Worth the Trip’

It was during the summer of 1937 that Isaak T. Loewen arrived back in Manitoba after years of serving as an automobile painter for a Ford agency in Nebraska.

He opened an autobody shop for repairing smashed car bodies, radiators, worn upholstery, broken windows and the painting of car exteriors in Carman.

The business was something completely new in rural Manitoba; “Ike the Painter” was confident it could be a success, and time has proved him right.

Loewen reasoned that cars are like people. Some need internal surgery, like having tonsils removed, appendectomies performed and broken bones reset. Others need plastic surgery, like new noses, skin grafting and so forth.

Loewen decided to leave the “internal surgery” to other garages and take over the automobile “face-lifting” business.

Loewen, of course, would handle the painting end of things, while the comparatively new science of hammering out smashed fenders would be left to his 17-year-old son Albert.

In the fall of 1939, when the war broke out, the Loewens moved to more comfortable surroundings in the German-speaking community of Steinbach and set up shop in an old barn.

Loewen Body Shop, like the town itself, grew slowly throughout the war years and then enjoyed a period of suddenly booming business. In 1946, the Loewens tore down the old building and built a new body shop at 211 Main Street.

There were several expansions over the years, including the addition of a state-of-the-art painting booth and frame repairing equipment, until a devastating fire in 1962 levelled the building and nearly resulted in a change of careers for Albert Loewen.

Mark says his father, who had a life-long interest in education, was faced with the prospect of having to borrow $40,000 to get back in business. He wondered if it was not time to quit the body shop and start a new career in the educational field.

It did not take him long to make up his mind. Within a week of the April 19, 1962 fire, Loewen Body Shop was back in business in a vacant Penner Lumber and Hardware building, just across Elm Avenue.

Almost immediately, work began to demolish the burned-out body shop and construction began on a bigger, more modern structure to house the ever-growing demand for auto body work.

In his spare time, Albert Loewen found a way to pursue his interest in education and provide a valuable community service at the same time. The Steinbach businessman served as a school trustee for 26 years, and for much of that he chaired the Hanover School Division board. He also chaired the Manitoba Public Schools finance board and sat on the Boundaries Review Commission.

The Loewens are still meeting their customers by accident, and today, they can certainly stand by the other half of their slogan, “Experience does count.”

While over the years there were a multitude of changes to vehicles and equipment used to repair them, the outward appearance of Loewen Body Shop remained pretty well the same. The familiar façade with the flowing letters of the sign over the door welcomed customers for decades. When Mark and his sons decided it was time for a complete facelift to the front end of the shop and its office environment, it was not hard to spot a regular customer.

When they came through the front door at Loewen Body Shop, they looked around, backed out again, believing they were in the wrong place. Then they would look up at the sign on the front of the building and return to talk to Mark, Josh or Jesse.

Today, if a would-be body shop customer were to walk into the building at 211 Main Street, he would be confronted with more than one surprise. There would be none of the familiar Loewen faces to greet him from behind the counter. A step back outside would garner a look at a new sign over the door.

It has been that way since 2024, when Loewen Body Shop picked up and moved to a huge building on a four-acre lot in the city’s west end. The Loewens are by no means alone at their new location.

When the body shop outgrew its building on Main Street, the family decided to move the business to a new site and look at property development for additional tenants at the same time.

Jordan Loewen (Mark and Pat’s middle son) joined the Loewen Body Shop team for property development and property management after a decade as Steinbach’s building inspector. Planning for the new development began in the spring of 2022.

The first phase of the development involved a 24,000 square-foot building that would house the office and production area for Loewen Body Shop and five offices for other tenants.

The second phase, a 13,000 square-foot building farther back on the lot houses six more tenants, including the body shop’s glass and mechanical departments.

The third of four phases of development at the location is expected to start next year.