Cranes Restoration…a brief history by Tyler Thickson
Cranes Upholstery was opened in 1927 and originally operated by Stu Crane.
The upholstery company was purchased in 1962 by Vince Thickson (my grandfather) and Chris Ramage. It ran as a successful partnership doing residential and commercial upholstery. In 1964 the business took an interesting twist when an insurance adjuster called about fixing a cigarette burn in a car seat,. Once the repair was complete the adjuster asked if Cranes was capable of cleaning the interior of the vehicle as well. My grandfather (Vince) brought in my father (Brad) to clean the vehicle from smoke/odor damage on the weekend while he was out of school, Brad would have been 13 at the time.
Calls for this type of work became more frequent and it was not long before adjusters started asking if we could apply these cleaning techniques to homes and buildings. The restoration business was born.
My father (Brad) became a partner in Cranes in 1972. He grew the restoration business and modeled the company to what it is today with training and quality workmanship through to 1998 when I started with the company at 19 years of age. I spent many years learning all aspects of the business until our eventual takeover in 2011. My wife (Stacey) and I now run the operations with large growth taking place over the past two years. As a third generation owner with many years of service to Medicine Hat and area we are pleased to help people when disaster strikes.