From a General Store in Westby to a Generational Automotive Legacy

Andrew H. Dahl was born on April 13, 1859, in Columbia County, Wisconsin, to Norwegian immigrant parents and later grew up on the family farm in Vernon County, where hard work and thrift shaped his early years. After graduating from Northwestern Business University in Madison in 1880, he returned home with a head for numbers and an eye for opportunity, looking for a place to build a business of his own. In 1882, he took his first big step into ownership by purchasing an interest in a general store in Westby, Wisconsin—a move that quietly set the stage for what would become more than a century of Dahl family enterprises in retailing and transportation. That same year, he married Julia Vinje, whose brother Aad J. Vinje would later become chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, linking Andrew's small-town mercantile venture to a family steeped in public service and leadership.

After years of success in general merchandise, Andrew H. Dahl decided his growing business needed a home that matched its ambitions. In 1898 he constructed a new 22,820 square foot brick building in downtown Westby — the first brick structure in town — which instantly became a local landmark and a much larger home for A.H. Dahl Co.

In 1907, Andrew and Julia Dahl gathered their seven children for this portrait marking their 25th wedding anniversary, a milestone they celebrated while living in Madison during Andrew's term as Wisconsin state treasurer. Dahl had pursued the treasuryship not just as a political ambition, but as a way to base the family in the capital so his children could pursue higher education at the university and local schools.

Behind the formal poses is a family very much in motion. Harry, the eldest, had already graduated from the University of Wisconsin's School of Commerce and was running his father's thriving general store back in Westby. Chet was completing his studies in civil engineering at the university. The girls — Elnora, Lulu, and Alice — and the younger boys, Victor and Aad, were each advancing through their own programs in Madison, building a foundation of education and discipline that matched the work ethic they learned in and around the family store.

For Andrew and Julia, this anniversary photo represents more than twenty-five years of marriage; it captures the balance between public service, a growing mercantile enterprise, and a deliberate investment in their children's futures — educationally, professionally, and in the habits of work they learned through the family store.

With their father serving as Wisconsin State Treasurer in Madison, Harry and Chet were running the family store back home in Westby. Sensing that the future was shifting from horses to horsepower, they applied for — and won — the chance to represent Ford Motor Company and sell the new Model T. The first Fords arrived not on wheels but in wooden crates at the Westby train station, where the brothers assembled each car by hand and then drove it up to the A.H. Dahl General Store, turning a country mercantile into the town's first glimpse of the automobile age.

As sales accelerated, Harry and Chet spent the winter of 1912–1913 making bricks for a new garage in Westby, creating the family's first purpose-built Ford dealership. The building symbolized their confidence that automobiles were no passing trend and that the business had moved beyond the old general store model.

In 1915, Harry and Chet purchased the Ford agency in La Crosse from Peter Hofweber, moving the business beyond Westby into the largest market in western Wisconsin. The La Crosse expansion became one of the most important early steps in Dahl history. By 1916, Harry had bought land at Sixth and King for a new garage, showing how quickly the La Crosse operation was growing.

After six years as Wisconsin's state treasurer, Andrew H. Dahl left politics and purchased the Ford agency in Kenosha, quickly building it into a strong operation that anchored a growing network of Dahl-family dealerships across the state.

Around 1920, Harry expanded the family business by establishing the Winnebago Auto Company in Oshkosh, extending Dahl's reach beyond Westby and La Crosse into another important Wisconsin market. The Oshkosh store showed that the business was becoming a true regional dealership network rather than a one- or two-store operation.

In 1920 alone, the combined Dahl-family agencies sold more than 2,800 Fords in Wisconsin, with Andrew proudly noting that “there isn't a bad agency in the bunch” and that every son and son-in-law “held up his end of the family's business.”

By 1921, the Dahls had become so successful selling Ford Model Ts that the Milwaukee Sentinel called them Wisconsin's “Champion Flivver Family.” In a feature headlined “Eight Men in Family and Each Sells Fords,” the paper marveled at the scale of the family network — Andrew leading from Kenosha, Harry in La Crosse and Oshkosh, Chester and Victor in Racine and Plymouth, and three sons-in-law running agencies in Marinette, Westby, and Viroqua.

In 1922, Chester “Chet” Dahl struck out for Kansas City, Missouri, taking over a Chevrolet dealership and proving that the Dahl story would be bigger than Ford alone. In Kansas City he coined the phrase “Deal with Dahl,” a simple promise that quickly became the family's calling card and would follow the business for generations. He quickly expanded to Denver, CO in 1927 to place his brother-in-law Loren Baptie as partner and operator. After selling the Kansas City store in 1932, Chet carried that same energy to new Chevrolet and Oldsmobile agencies in San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Tulsa, and Oakland, helping plant the Dahl name from the Midwest to the West Coast. In 1933 at age 46, his whirlwind career ended suddenly during a sales meeting in Oakland, when he suffered a fatal heart attack—complications from malaria he had contracted years earlier while working as a civil engineer on the Panama Canal—but by then he had already reshaped the reach and ambition of the family enterprise.

Even after Chet's death, his trusted business partner, George I. Peterson takes over the Dahl Chevrolet Company and continues to grow the business into Seattle and Salt Lake. Historical records show the Dahl Chevrolet Company operating in Oakland until the late 1970's.

Harry continued the expansion south into Iowa with Mason City in 1925, installing Al Leissring as the operator — a trend started by his father Andrew of placing Harry as owner with a strong local operator on the ground, backed by the full Dahl family's systems for financing, used-car operations, and service. Mason City helped secure the family's position across the Upper Midwest, turning what began in Westby into a true regional network of Ford dealerships.

In 1926, Dahl Motors La Crosse salesman, Romy Hammes, won Ford's nationwide sales contest north of the Mason-Dixon line by selling 107 Model Ts in just ninety days, earning a trip to Detroit and a gold watch inscribed by Ford president Edsel B. Ford. Recognizing his extraordinary talent, Harry Dahl partnered with Romy to open a Ford dealership in Kankakee, Illinois, along the new hard-surfaced highway between Kankakee and Chicago—launching one of the most celebrated careers in the Dahl orbit. The Kankakee move marked the start of Romy's banner years, turning a championship salesman into a legendary dealer and extending Harry Dahl's reach through a rising star he had helped develop.

On January 23, 1928, Andrew H. Dahl passed away suddenly due to complications from a fall outside his home, closing the first great chapter of the Dahl family story. A former Wisconsin State Treasurer and respected progressive voice, Andrew was remembered as a citizen-politician whose “sense of justice and right” shaped public life far beyond Westby. His example of integrity and public service while building a business empire would guide the next generations of Dahl dealers.

On April 8, 1930, Harry J. Dahl announced from La Crosse that he would seek the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin in the September primaries — the first time he had ever stood for public office. The candidacy was not his idea alone. Retail merchants across the state, alongside whom he had worked in merchants' associations for twenty-five years, had been urging him to run, as had the Madison and La Crosse automobile associations, and a seventh district Republican conference in La Crosse that March formally asked him to become a candidate.

By then Harry was a known figure well beyond the Coulee Region. Born in Viroqua in 1883 and a 1906 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, he had come up through the implement and general store business in Westby before spending fifteen years as the Ford dealer in La Crosse. He was also the son of former State Treasurer Andrew H. Dahl and a nephew of former Chief Justice Aad J. Vinje, which made the campaign feel to many like a continuation of a family tradition of public service. Endorsing him, the Wisconsin State Journal wrote simply that “Harry Dahl is a true son of Andrew H. Dahl,” praising a businessman who had earned his standing through honest work and community leadership.

Harry campaigned through the summer of 1930 by automobile — fitting, for a Ford dealer — driving Wisconsin's back roads and small towns to make his case ahead of the September 16 primary. The photographs from that summer show him in a light suit and straw hat, at the wheel of an open touring car or standing in an open field between stops, the same energy he had spent building dealerships now turned toward the state.

When the votes were counted after the September 16 primary, Harry came up short. The contest with incumbent Lieutenant Governor Henry A. Huber proved closer than anyone had predicted — early returns had the two men separated by fewer than fifteen hundred votes — but Harry had run as the candidate of the regular Republicans in the year the party's Progressive wing swept Wisconsin, with Philip La Follette taking the nomination for governor by a landslide. It was the only time Harry Dahl ever sought public office. He went back to La Crosse and to the business, where the decade ahead would ask for every bit of the energy he had spent on the road.

By 1933, Harry Dahl's business influence extended well beyond automobiles. As president of G. Heileman Brewing Company in La Crosse, he helped lead the brewery through expansion and renewed profitability in the years immediately after Prohibition, showing the breadth of his leadership during one of the most difficult economic decades in American business.

By 1935, the Dahl presence in Milwaukee had expanded again as A.J. and Victor Dahl became the Studebaker distributors for east-central Wisconsin, showing how the family was broadening beyond Ford and strengthening its role in Wisconsin's multi-brand auto market.

In 1936, Harry moved his family to Milwaukee and launched one of the Dahls' most ambitious Depression-era ventures: taking on the Packard distributorship for Wisconsin, pushing the company beyond its Ford roots and into the luxury-car market in the state's largest city. Growing competitive pressure from Buick, which was aggressively pursuing dominance in the luxury segment, ultimately forced Harry to sell back the Packard distributorship and the Milwaukee retail store in 1939.

In 1937, Kenneth “Kenny” Dahl and colleague Clarence Hendrickson chose Davenport, Iowa, over an offered Ford point in Rock Island, Illinois, after being “immediately struck by the fine appearance of the Davenport business district and the many beautiful homes.” They purchased the Ford dealership at 420 West Third Street from Fred L. Strieter, launching Dahl Motors in the Quad Cities just as the new 1938 Ford V-8 models were being introduced. Their role went beyond a single showroom: Kenny and Clarence also served as distributors in seven counties of eastern Iowa and western Illinois and as local dealers for Lincoln and Lincoln Zephyr, firmly planting the Dahl name in a growing regional market. Fourth generation Vinje and 5th generation K.V. still own and operate Davenport today.

By 1938, Dahl had moved decisively into a broader regional business, adding major operations in Terre Haute, IN, Utica, NY, and Allentown, PA, with Yonkers, NY following in 1941. These acquisitions reflected Harry's strategy of targeting mid-sized cities where the family believed it could build strong market share. At one point, members of the extended Dahl family operated as many as 40 dealerships nationwide bearing the Dahl name.

A Dahl meeting photo from Utica, New York, shows Kenneth Dahl with Harry Dahl, Clarence Hendrickson, Fred Scheppke, Bob Miller, and Ted Harrer, reflecting the company's reliance on trusted operators across multiple markets. By the end of the decade, the business had grown beyond a loose collection of stores into a more coordinated regional network, with Kenneth taking on a larger role in its day-to-day leadership.

When Harry Dahl bought out Al Leissring's minority interest and restored the Dahl Motors name in 1942, Kenneth began operating the La Crosse dealership under some of the most difficult conditions the business had faced. As he later recalled, the building had “four walls, but no cars or equipment,” forcing him to rebuild the operation through used-car buying, parts acquisition, and service work rather than normal new-car sales. During the war years, Ford converted to military production and did not resume civilian production until June 1945 — Kenneth kept Dahl Motors going by scouring the Midwest for used vehicles and maintaining repair capacity for local drivers and farm customers.

In early 1946, Kenneth Dahl hosted a demonstration of a new radio-telephone system inside the dealership showroom, with engineers showing how a “dial telephone” could place wireless calls from a 1946 Ford Super Deluxe sedan. The event underscored Kenneth's interest in new technology and reinforced Dahl's image as a family eager to test the next wave of automotive ideas long before they became mainstream.

By the 1950s, the Dahl organization was operating in more markets and across more brands than ever before. Oshkosh became one of the company's strongest operations during the decade, and the Badger Oldsmobile business showed how the Dahl organization was building a larger presence in the market.

In 1957, Kenneth built a new Dahl Ford dealership at 3rd and Division in La Crosse, giving one of the company's flagship markets a more modern, more visible home. The new facility reflected postwar confidence and Kenneth's belief in investing in first-class buildings that matched the scale of the business.

On April 26, 1959, fire destroyed the Dahl Motors building on State and Waugoo Streets in Oshkosh, causing major losses in vehicles, parts, equipment, and the building itself. Kenneth responded immediately, and Dahl Motors reopened in a temporary location the following week, turning one of its greatest setbacks into a story of resilience.

In July 1960, Kenny and Howard Dahl stepped beyond the car business and into the sky, becoming principal owners of Viking Aviation, Inc. at the La Crosse Municipal Airport by acquiring the established Fanta-Reed Air Service. They built up an 11-aircraft fleet, modernized the hangar, and offered charter, training, and corporate “learn-as-you-travel” programs, briefly extending the Dahl spirit of mobility from roads to runways. By July 1961, Kenny concluded La Crosse could support only one air service, and he and his partners sold Viking Aviation back to its original operators, returning the family's focus to the growing automotive enterprise.

In 1961, Harry J. Dahl was publicly recognized for 50 years in the automobile business, a milestone that tied the family's 1911 Ford roots in Westby to the much larger dealership organization Kenneth now led. The anniversary reinforced the idea that Dahl Motors was not just surviving decade to decade, but building a lasting business across generations.

On May 6, 1962, Harry Dahl died in La Crosse at age 78, following a stroke he had suffered on April 27. The Dahl family and the La Crosse region lost the man who had turned a small Westby agency into a multi-state automotive empire. Harry Dahl had been among the first in Wisconsin to see that the “horseless carriage” was more than a curiosity, betting early on Ford and then relentlessly adding agencies across Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, New York and beyond. He wasn't just a local dealer; he became a strategist who used partners and family members to seed successful stores in new markets, from Kankakee to Davenport to far-flung points around the country.

By the time of his death, Harry's name was synonymous with the automobile age in the Upper Midwest, and his network of dealerships had helped define what a modern, multi-point automotive group could look like. His passing marked the end of the founding generation, but the business he built—and the culture of expansion, partnership, and long-term thinking he modeled—gave the next generations a powerful platform to keep growing the Dahl automotive story.

In 1967, Kenny Dahl chaired the building fund drive that raised more than 1.8 million dollars to construct the new combined YMCA–YWCA facility at West Avenue and Main Street in La Crosse — one of the largest community campaigns the city had seen to that point. At the groundbreaking that December, Kenny stood with the building committee, the contractor, and the architect as the advisory committee's co-chairs turned the first earth at the West Avenue and Main Street site — a reminder that the Dahl family's community leadership extended beyond dealerships into the health, youth development, and civic life of La Crosse.

In 1968, Dahl Motors celebrated its new dealership building in Oshkosh, a major statement that the company had fully rebuilt after the 1959 fire. The new facility at Murdock and Beech, promoted as giving customers the “red carpet treatment,” represented modernization in both appearance and operation.

In July 1968, Kenny Dahl and his wife, Eleanor, found themselves at the center of a Cold War drama when their Northwest flight from Miami was hijacked at gunpoint and diverted to Havana, Cuba, along with 84 other passengers. After hours under guard, Cuban officials turned the incident into propaganda theater — bussing the group around, showing off new construction, and capping the night with a lavish banquet — before sending them back to Miami on a “mercy” flight the next day. Kenny later joked about losing his Havana cigars to U.S. customs and described the episode as a wild adventure once it was safely behind them, adding another improbable story to the Dahl family's history of planes, cars, and travel.

The 1974 image of Dahl Ford at 3rd and Division captures the setting where Harry II was establishing himself inside the organization. Rather than leading through title alone, he was building authority in the daily life of the La Crosse dealership, and this store became the central stage for his development as the next major operating figure in the family business.

Kenneth Vinje Dahl Jr. returned to Dahl Ford in Davenport in 1973 to serve as general manager, marking a key moment in stabilizing and growing the Iowa operation. After starting with Dahl Motors in La Crosse in 1956, Vinje worked across multiple Dahl dealerships in Erie, Oshkosh, and Utica, gaining broad experience in sales and sales management before first moving to Davenport in 1968 to sell used vehicles and later overseeing operations back in La Crosse. When he settled once again in Davenport in 1973, he stepped into a troubled store facing high employee turnover, low sales, and poor profitability, and began rebuilding the business “one day at a time” alongside longtime controller Art Schebler. For more than 30 years as general manager, Vinje maintained the Dahl standard of integrity that kept guests returning to Dahl Ford, championing the philosophy that “happy employees make happy customers” — a belief still reflected in the culture of the Davenport operation today.

In 1979, Harry joined nine other Ford dealers in North American Classics to build a reproduction 1957 Thunderbird using modern technology, and the project drew crowds, deposits, and serious early enthusiasm before collapsing under the weight of the 1980–1981 interest-rate crisis.

As the decade closed, the second oil shock of 1979 brought “NO GAS” signs, long lines at stations, and sharp spikes in fuel prices just as interest rates were climbing into double digits. For Dahl and its customers, the late-1970s fuel crisis marked the end of cheap gasoline, pushed many buyers toward smaller, fuel-efficient imports, and set up a very tough start to the 1980s auto market.

If the 1970s were the decade when Harry II earned his place inside the company, the 1980s were the decade when his leadership became more visible through franchise growth, larger strategic decisions, and a stronger operating identity for the next generation of Dahl Automotive.

Dahl added Subaru in La Crosse in 1982, a major step in broadening the company beyond Ford with fuel-efficient cars. The franchise marked the start of a more diversified strategy under Harry II's leadership. With the addition of Mitsubishi in 1988, Harry confirmed that Subaru was not a one-time move — Dahl was building a stronger multi-brand future designed for a changing market.

Harry's growing impact was recognized with Ford's Distinguished Achievement Award in 1983 — an early sign that his leadership was shaping the next era of the business. Even as the business expanded, Harry remained deeply committed to family and community life. That balance became part of the culture that shaped Dahl's next generation.

In 1986, Dahl Ford marked its 75th anniversary as a Ford dealer. The commemorative mural and advertising from that year highlighted three generations of leadership, vintage Fords, and the long-running “Deal with Dahl” promise that carried the company through wars, recessions, fuel crises, and changing customer tastes.

After nearly 70 years in business, Harry sold the Oshkosh Ford-Nissan operation to Yakim-Bemis in 1988. This sale continued the trend of strengthening the core market of La Crosse by divesting outside locations.

In 1992, Ford recognized Dahl Ford with its QC Chairman's Award, honoring the store's commitment to quality care and customer satisfaction. The award underscored how everyday attention to service and relationships in La Crosse translated into performance that stood out at the national level.

Midway through the decade, Harry's entrepreneurial energy reached beyond the showroom floor into workplace health and screening services. His company, Health Services of North America (HSNA), helped employers tackle substance abuse in the workplace. He and his partner, Don Weber, changed the name to Logistics Health, Inc. (LHI) in 1999, with its mission shifting to medical readiness, emergency preparedness, and homeland security services. The company became so successful that it caught the eye of global juggernaut UnitedHealth Group, who purchased LHI in 2011 — at the time employing about 950 people in the La Crosse area.

In 1997, the Dahl family's long tradition of community giving was visible at the dedication of the Wayne J. Hood Aquatic Center at Camp Decorah in Holmen, Wisconsin, where Kenneth V. Dahl and his son Harry were recognized among the lead donors. Their support for the Boy Scouts mirrored generations of Dahl involvement in youth programs, schools, and local nonprofits, reflecting a belief that a hometown dealership should invest in the same community that supports its business.

Ford presented Harry Dahl with the North American Customer Excellence (NACE) Award in 1998. Recognizing outstanding customer satisfaction and owner loyalty, the award confirmed that Dahl Ford's focus on service, culture, and long-term relationships had made it one of Ford's top dealers in North America.

In 2002, Kenneth Vinje “K.V.” Dahl III became general manager and dealer principal of Dahl Ford in Davenport, carrying the operation into the fifth generation of Dahl family leadership. Working alongside his father Vinje, K.V. built on decades of loyal team members and guests, continuing the Davenport store's focus on integrity, strong used-vehicle operations, and service that keeps customers coming back.

In 2004, Harry II and his sons broke ground on the new Dahl Hyundai–Lincoln–Mercury campus on Theater Road in Onalaska—a deliberate bet on a growing corridor north of La Crosse and a clear signal that the family was building for the next generation, not just maintaining what existed. Adding Hyundai was significant: it brought another import brand to the Coulee Region at a time when Korean automakers were rapidly gaining credibility with American buyers, and it gave Dahl a foothold in a segment the La Crosse market had not yet fully served. Paired with Lincoln and Mercury, the new campus positioned the family to compete across multiple price points under one roof, continuing the diversification strategy that had defined Dahl since Harry first layered Studebaker and Packard alongside Ford in the 1930s.

In 2006, Dahl acquired Valley View Ford in West Salem and moved the Ford franchise to the Onalaska campus. The move set off a series of brand realignments that brought Hyundai downtown to share a campus with Subaru and, later, Mazda, giving customers a convenient import hub in La Crosse while strengthening the north-side Ford presence in Onalaska.

In 2008, Dahl Subaru celebrated its 25th anniversary, recognizing Harry Dahl's early bet on a then little-known import brand that would go on to become one of the hottest names in the U.S. market. Subaru honored Harry and the dealership for “25 years of excellence,” underscoring how that risk—adding an all-wheel-drive niche brand long before crossovers and outdoorsy lifestyles were mainstream—helped future-proof the Dahl portfolio for a new generation of customers.

In 2010, the Dahl family purchased Underdahl Toyota in Winona, Minnesota, bringing the Toyota brand into the organization and extending the group's footprint across the Mississippi River. Andrew Dahl serves in his first major leadership role as General Manager, transforming the dealership's performance and culture to align with the Dahl Automotive brand.

In 2010, Kenny Dahl & Susan Hessel captured a century of family enterprise and guest-service philosophy in his book Deal With Dahl, preserving the story of how a small Ford agency in Westby grew into a multigenerational automotive legacy. Sitting at a table at a cherished supper club in La Crosse, he proudly held the finished volume—a reflection of his deep pride in the Dahl name and a gift of history and values to future generations.

In 2011, Dahl Automotive marked its 100th year in business with a year-long celebration that honored its Ford roots, gave back to the community, and reconnected with its Westby beginnings. Ford Motor Company recognized three generations of the Dahl family for a century of partnership, with Ken Czubay, Vice President of U.S. Sales and Service at Ford, presenting a special 100-year award at the dealership. The anniversary also featured a car-giveaway promotion with local station Z-93, a $100,000 check presentation to six La Crosse-area nonprofits, the opening of the Dahl Auto Museum, a classic-car tour and parade back to Westby, and a homecoming program where the Dahl family—led by Kenny—shared stories of Dahl Motors with a large crowd in the town where it all began.

In 2012, Dahl Automotive expanded its footprint in Winona by purchasing Walz Chevrolet Buick GMC, taking stewardship of another long-time family dealership in the community. The store was reintroduced as Dahl Chevrolet Buick GMC, with nearly all Walz team members continuing on under the Dahl name to ensure a seamless transition for guests. At the grand-opening ribbon cutting, members of the Dahl family stood at the center of a large crowd of employees, chamber ambassadors, and community leaders in front of the Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC signage—marking Dahl's arrival as a full-line GM dealer in Winona.

Andrew Dahl was named president of Dahl Automotive effective January 1, 2015, becoming the fifth president since Andrew H. Dahl founded the business in 1911. After starting his career at the stores in 2002 and working his way through sales, management, and the general manager role at Dahl Toyota, he stepped into the presidency with a commitment to grow the business while serving team members, families, and the community. Harry Dahl, who had led the organization as president for forty years, moved into the role of Chairman of the Board, supporting a smooth generational transition in leadership.

On June 10, 2016, Kenneth Vinje “Kenny” Dahl, automobile scion, community leader, and beloved patriarch of the Dahl family, died at home in Onalaska at the age of 100. He was born September 20, 1915, in La Crosse to Harry and Nellie Dahl, and grew up in the Ford business begun in 1911 when his grandfather, Andrew Dahl, and great-uncles Harry and Chester opened the Ford agency in Westby and built the garage where Model Ts were assembled and sold for 500 dollars.

A jazz enthusiast from his La Crosse Central High School days playing in the Ken Davis Orchestra, Kenny graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1937 and then joined his father Harry in the automobile business just as the Depression and the coming war made selling new cars extremely difficult. Instead, the Dahls survived by focusing on quality service and used vehicles through the war years, when no new automobiles were built, a strategy Kenny helped lead and later passed on to future generations. Over time, members of the extended Dahl family operated as many as 40 dealerships nationwide bearing the Dahl name, many under Kenny's oversight, with his sons Harry and Vinje and, eventually, his grandsons carrying the business into its fifth generation.

Kenny was respected as a down-to-earth, generous, and honest businessman whose life revolved around his four children—Vinje, Nancy, Harry, and Larry—and a growing circle of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He believed deeply in giving back and quietly supported organizations such as Gundersen Medical Foundation, the YMCA, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Boys & Girls Club, Family & Children's Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and many others, often through “below-the-radar” acts of charity his daughter Nancy later described with gratitude.

Kenny's life was celebrated at a public gathering on June 24, 2016, at the Dahl Auto Museum in downtown La Crosse, where family, friends, and community members honored both his century-long influence on the automobile business and his legacy of integrity, service, and generosity.

In 2016, Dahl completed construction of the massive Dahl Auto Plaza along Highway 61 in Winona, consolidating its growing brands into a single, modern automotive campus. The project delivered new standalone homes for Dahl Toyota and Dahl Chevrolet Buick GMC, each with expanded showrooms and state-of-the-art service facilities, alongside a used-car supercenter and the Dahl Express Service Tire and Auto Center. New amenities include an on-site car wash—turning Dahl Automotive in Winona into a full-service destination for guests across the region.

In 2017, Dahl Automotive's long partnership with Subaru reached a new level with the opening of a stand-alone Dahl Subaru dealership in downtown La Crosse, purpose-built to deliver a modern, Subaru-specific guest experience. The new facility introduced climate-controlled service reception, a celebration bay for vehicle deliveries, family-friendly lounges with kids' spaces, a fully enclosed dog park, Subaru Express Service, and eco-friendly features — including LED lighting, on-site storm-water retention, and a rooftop solar array designed to qualify the store as a Certified Eco-Friendly Retailer.

In March 2019, Dahl Automotive purchased the long-standing Honda Motorwerks dealership in downtown La Crosse, adding Honda as a new core brand alongside its existing import and domestic franchises. Just a year later, in May 2020, the Dahls opened a ground-up, state-of-the-art Dahl Honda facility at 2520 Midwest Drive in Onalaska—a larger, more centrally located campus designed around Honda's Generation 3 image program. The new store features a climate-controlled service drive, expansive showroom, guest lounges with complimentary amenities, advanced service equipment, and eco-friendly technologies, giving Honda guests in the Coulee Region a modern, convenient destination that reflects Dahl's commitment to growth and guest experience.

In January 2023, the La Crosse Tribune named Andrew and Jamie Dahl its People of the Year for 2022 — honoring a couple whose philanthropy, the paper noted, is “embedded in their DNA.” At the center of that recognition was their founding of Adult & Teen Challenge of Western Wisconsin (ATCWW), a faith-based residential recovery program for women in the La Crosse area. Inspired in part by Andrew's own journey through addiction and recovery, ATCWW opened in 2019 and has since served more than 70 women, with 78 percent remaining sober after graduation. In 2022 the program expanded with a seven-bed aftercare wing, extending support for graduates as they transition back into the community. Beyond ATCWW, Andrew and Jamie have been active contributors to mental health initiatives, youth programs, and the arts across the Coulee Region. When asked about the recognition, Andrew offered a characteristically humble response: “We're just trying to be obedient to what God calls us.”

In 2023, Dahl Automotive opened a new stand-alone Quick Lane service center on Midwest Drive in Onalaska, featuring 10 service bays dedicated to fast, routine maintenance. The facility handles oil changes, tires, brakes, and other light repairs, giving guests convenient, no-appointment service while freeing up additional capacity at Dahl Ford Onalaska to focus on more complex repairs and warranty work for Ford guests.

In 2023, Dahl Automotive completed the largest single acquisition in its history, adding Honda and Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM dealerships in Stevens Point and Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The acquisition welcomed over 100 new team members into the Dahl Automotive family and expanded the group to 12 dealerships across Wisconsin and Minnesota. This growth strengthened Dahl's representation of 13 brands and reinforced its long-term commitment to investing in communities, creating careers, and serving guests across the region.

In 2023, Andrew J. Dahl received national recognition when he was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award, one of the automobile industry's most prestigious honors for community service and business excellence. Selected to represent the Wisconsin Automobile & Truck Dealers Association, he was one of only 48 dealers chosen from more than 16,000 nationwide and was honored at the 106th NADA Show in Dallas. The nomination highlighted his leadership in growing Dahl Automotive, his turnaround of Dahl Toyota in Winona, and his extensive community work, including founding Adult & Teen Challenge of Western Wisconsin, guiding major YMCA expansion in La Crosse, serving as a trustee of Viterbo University, and helping direct more than 5.3 million dollars in Dahl Family Foundation giving across the Coulee Region and beyond.

In 2024, Dahl Automotive acquired La Crosse Truck Center Ford at 215 Milwaukee Street, launching Dahl Ford Truck La Crosse as a dedicated Ford Pro commercial vehicle dealership. Fourteen new team members joined the Dahl organization through the acquisition, which expanded Dahl's local Ford footprint to four Ford-affiliated facilities and strengthened its ability to serve business and fleet customers with more choices, competitive pricing, and emerging solutions like electrified vehicles and telematics.

In 2025, Abra Auto Body & Glass opened a brand-new, 33,000-plus square-foot facility in Onalaska, designed to deliver industry-leading collision repair with a focus on quality, efficiency, and guest satisfaction. The full-service body shop features 24 dedicated body stalls, 11 paint stalls, 2 detail bays, and 6 stalls for estimating and final inspection, supported by full-bake GFS paint booths that can handle up to six vehicles at once. With on-site ADAS calibrations, state-of-the-art equipment, and a skilled team of more than 25 professionals completing over 300 repairs each month, Abra is setting a new standard for auto body repair in the Coulee Region.

In 2025, Dahl Automotive entered the Sheboygan market with the acquisition of three dealerships from International Autos, adding Toyota, Subaru, and Honda stores at the key intersection of Interstate 43 and Highway 23. The newly renamed Dahl Toyota Sheboygan, Dahl Subaru Sheboygan, and Dahl Honda Sheboygan welcomed nearly sixty new team members and advanced Dahl's strategy of growing in midsize markets with top-tier import brands. With this acquisition, Dahl re-entered Eastern Wisconsin for the first time since the family operated dealerships there in the 1920s and 1930s, grew to 14 dealerships representing 12 brands, and surpassed 600 team members.

In 2026, Dahl Automotive acquired two dealerships from the Happy Auto Group in Rochester, Minnesota — a Hyundai store and a Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM store on US-52, reintroduced as Dahl Hyundai Rochester and Dahl Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Rochester. The acquisition welcomed roughly 100 new team members into the organization and marked the group's tenth acquisition in under three years. On August 18, 2026, the two stores held their grand opening celebration — ribbon cuttings with the Dahl family, the Rochester team, and the chamber of commerce, donations to local nonprofits, and a picnic under the tent with live music from local performers.

Rochester deepened Dahl's presence in southeastern Minnesota, building on the two Winona dealerships and placing the group in a strong mid-sized market just an hour from its home base in La Crosse. For the family, it also strengthened two existing OEM relationships, adding a second Hyundai store and a third Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM franchise. Departing co-owner Bret Matthews pointed to the fit directly, noting that a family group with a 115-year legacy was the right steward for the Rochester stores and their team.

“Rochester is a great fit within our strategic plan to grow in mid-sized markets where we can make a positive impact in the community and through exceptional guest experiences,” said Andrew Dahl, fifth-generation co-owner and President & CEO. “We are a family-run auto group and guests will feel that right away when they visit our stores.”

With Rochester, Dahl Automotive reached 16 dealerships across Minnesota and Wisconsin, representing 12 brands and more than 700 team members.