Jefferson Transportation Company (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Jefferson Highway Transportation Company began operations in September 1919, and was formally organized in 1920. Edgar F. Zelle, operator of the competing Red Bus Line, purchased the company on June 30, 1925. The name of the firm was shortened to Jefferson Transportation Company in 1929. In 1968 Jefferson's bus operations were merged with the Crown Coach Company and a new firm, known as Jefferson Lines, Inc., was established. Jefferson Transportation Company remained the principal owner.

Jefferson Transportation Company changed its name in the early 1970s to The Jefferson Company, and initiated two new operating units: Jeffco, Inc., a distributor of electric power generating equipment, and Jefferson Tours (a division of MTS Company), a retailer of travel services and wholesaler of package bus tours. The corporate structure then had The Jefferson Company, as the parent of Jefferson Lines, Inc., and its subsidiaries; Jeffco, Inc.; and MTS Company, through which it conducted its Minneapolis property development activities. By 1983 the business was organized into a Transportation Group and a Real Estate Group of companies under the umbrella of The Jefferson Company.

In July 1992, after emerging from a 1990 Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Jefferson Lines defaulted on $7 million of secured debt, and was foreclosed upon by Jefferson Partners L.P., who continued to operate the business. Jefferson Partners described itself as an inter-city bus transporter that also offered charters, domestic and international tours, package express, bus-maintenance services, and daily scheduled bus service from Minnesota to Texas.

Edgar Frederick Zelle was born in Havana, Illinois, on August 16, 1890. He moved with his parents to New Ulm, Minnesota, with his parents in 1895, graduated from New Ulm High School in 1907, and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1913. He served as secretary of the Wilcox Motor Company, Minneapolis (1913-1915), and founded and served as president of the Motor Truck Service Company, Minneapolis (1915-1950), a firm that owned and leased motor trucks to Twin Cities wholesale and manufacturing companies. Zelle was president of Jefferson Highway Transportation Company/Jefferson Transportation Company from 1925 to 1950. He was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (1952-1956); chairman of the First National Bank of Minneapolis (1951-1955); president (1954-1960) of the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company; director of the Soo Line Railroad Company; a trustee of Farmers & Mechanics Savings Bank, Minneapolis (1943-1966); president of the University of Minnesota General Alumni Association (1926-1929); and a member and moderator of Plymouth Congregational Church (Minneapolis). During World War II he served in Washington, D.C. as an associate director of the Office of Defense Transportation (April 1943-April 1944).

Edgar Zelle married Lillian Nippert on June 5, 1913. The Zelles had two children: Mary Susan and Louis Nippert Zelle. Louis Zelle became president of Jefferson Transportation Company ca.1964. Edgar Zelle died in August 1978.

From the guide to the Company records, 1883-1996 (bulk 1913-1996)., (Minnesota Historical Society)