International Towing and Recovery Museum

It all started as an idea more than 20 years ago when the Friends of Towing, a group of dedicated professionals, decided to recognize outstanding individuals in the towing and recovery industry worldwide, record the history of the industry, collect and display industry artifacts and memorabilia through a museum, and provide information about the industry to the general public. Thus was born the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum. The best way to display the Hall of Fame and Museum, they decided, was to drive it to tow shows around the country, which they did for many years in a tractor-trailer; and the rest is history. In 1986 the first Hall of Fame inducted 27 members (there are now 285 HOF members). In September 1995, the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum opened to the public in downtown Chattanooga, TN in it’s first permanent structure. Chattanooga, Tennessee, was chosen as the museum’s home because the indusry’s first wrecker was fabricated approximately three and a half miles away from the museum at the Ernest Holmes Company. It moved to it’s current location on Broad Street in 2003. In 2006, the Wall of the Fallen memorial was added to the outside grounds, and the first 94 names of towers who lost their lives in the line of service were added to the wall in 2007.