Born of Swiss parents, Walter was a farmer in his early years, working farms with his father and as a young man learning three languages. In 1927, at the age of 22, he moved to Beloit and began to take classes at the Vocational School. Set on becoming a top-class machinist, he took a job in Rockford at Barber-Coleman as a drill press operator, then moved to Barnes Drill and eventually landed a job in Beloit at yates-American.

Deciding to go into business for himself, Walt moved to Shopiere and became a poultry farmer. But by 1932, with millions out of work, egg prices falling and chicken feed prices skyrocketing, he had no choice but to close down his once successful chicken farm. Falling back on his machinist training, Walt began operating a small machine shop in a vacated chicken house on his property, where he built and repaired all sort of machinery, furnace grates and gears – typically for farmers in the area. In 1934, for the expenditure of less than $300, he built a fully operational foundry for iron, brass and aluminum castings and the Durst Foundry and Machine Works was founded.

The business was successful from the first, with Mr. Durst inventing and developing his first farm machine called the “Cultipacker” with a grass seeding attachment. Inventor and entrepreneur, Walter Durst produced a series of highly successful and useful products. He produced the first gear drive system to evenly spread lime from the rear of trucks, which he then enhanced with a hydraulic motor driven spreader for spreading salt on high-ways and which is still used by every highway department in the country.

In 1953 Mr. Durst designed and his company manufactured, right angle gear drives for a revolutionary hay conditioner that could cut hay in the morning to be baled in the afternoon. In 1958 Walter Durst’s inventiveness contrib-uted to the development of the first electric-driven irrigation system, permitting farm irrigation systems to run unattended day or night. Walt sold his business in 1966 to Beloit Tool, now known as Regal-Beloit Corporation and devoted his life to his many hobbies and civic projects.

He was a collector of steam-powered vehicles and the owner of a 1919 Stanley Steamer and 1927 Franklin, which he proudly drove in festivals and community parades. He was leader of the Rock County Thresheree, where for years he gave rides to children and adults on a train pulled by the Rock County Cannonball, a vintage engine bought by Walt in Germany and restored by him for use at the Thresheree Park.

In his retirement Walt continued to live life with the same skill and determination of his early years, whether it was playing his saxophone and clarinet in the Senior Citizens Band, or maintaining his position as the number one salesman in the Lion’s Club Annual Rose Sale. Farmer, master machinist, mechanic, inventor, innovator and entrepreneur, Walter Durst was a man who always looked for a challenge, literally starting his business in a chicken coop and built Durst Foundry and Machine Works into one of the premier industries of Rock County. Industrialist Walter Durst died January 22, 1993, at the age of 87.