Ladder Tower Company

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Ladder Tower Company (LTC) or Ladder Tower is an American fire apparatus manufacturer located in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. It currently operates as a sub-brand of Spartan Emergency Response.
==History==
In 1973, Grove Manufacturing sold off its aerial ladder division to concentrate on crane production. In 1974, Mahlon Zimmerman started a new company, Ladder Towers Incorporated (better known by the initials LTI) by building former Grove aerial devices.
Over the years, LTI built several aerial devices. Bodies were built by Conestoga Custom Products, which was located in the same industrial park as LTI (and was also founded by Mr. Zimmerman a few years after LTI, in 1978). Trucks were built on Spartan, Hendrickson and Pemfab chassis.
In 1985, LTI developed its own custom chassis, the LTI Olympian. In 1986, LTI was acquired by Simon Group, maker of the Simon Snorkel elevating platforms. The new company, called Simon-LTI, then acquired custom chassis manufacturer Duplex. The truck was manufactured under the Simon-Duplex LTI name.
In 1998, Simon-LTI's ladder division was purchased by Aerial Innovations Inc., another company founded by LTI founder Mahlon Zimmerman.
In 1999, all these companies were merged into a division of the new American LaFrance Corporation owned by Freightliner Corporation. After this date, LTI and Aerial Innovations aerials were only built on American LaFrance custom chassis and Freightliner commercial chassis.
In 2014, American LaFrance ceased operations and LTI was acquired by Smeal, who renamed it Ladder Tower Company (LTC). When Smeal was purchased by Spartan ERV, LTC was acquired as well.Ephrata's Ladder Tower part of $36.3M sale to Michigan firmLancaster Online. Dec. 13, 2016 At some point after Spartan's purchase of Smeal & LTC in 2016, the company was officially rebranded to just Ladder Tower, although it is still commonly known as, and referred to; as Ladder Tower Company (LTC).
==Products ==
===Ladders===
*54' Squrt
*75' rear-mount ladder
* 110' rear-mount ladder
*100' and 105' tractor-drawn aerials
=== Platforms ===
*93' mid-mount platform
==See also==
Departments operating LTI / LTC apparatus
==References==
==Sources== 
:McCall, Walter M.P. Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Fire Engine Manufacturers. Hudson, WI: Iconografix, 2009. Category:American fire apparatus manufacturers ISBN 9781583882528
:https://www.fireapparatusmagazine.com/magazine/a-history-of-lti-and-ephratas-ladder-trucks-part-1/
==External Links == 
*https://spartaner.com/brands/ladder-tower/
==Facility Map==
Category:Apparatus Component Manufacturers