Minnesota's 'Mr Bus': Edgar F. Zelle and the Jefferson Highway Transportation Company

In March 1944 Edgar F. Zelle, President of the Jefferson Transportation Company, Minneapolis, resigned as associate director of the Office of Defense Transportation's Division of Local Transport, where he directed the administration of regulations and policies affecting intercity and school buses. This onerous and responsible wartime appointment recognized Zelle as both a major intercity bus operator and one of the industry's most respected leaders. On returning to Minneapolis, he continued for several years to manage the independent regional company to which he had devoted almost a quarter of a century. ¹