Helen M. Schultz

Helen M. Schultz (February 12, 1898 – March 8, 1974) was an American intercity bus entrepreneur, nicknamed "Iowa's Bus Queen." Schultz grew up in the Midwest, and recognized a need for bus service in Iowa. In 1922, she founded the Red Ball Transportation Company, which operated a large route network in northern Iowa until 1930, when Schultz sold it to the Jefferson Highway Transportation Company.

Family and education Helen Mary Schultz was the second child of Joseph Schultz and Mary Schultz, who were farmers in the region of Nashua, Iowa, and Shell Lake, Wisconsin. After finishing school, she attended a business college in Duluth, Minnesota, where she trained as a stenographer. She worked at various businesses, from some of which she gained useful knowledge about the transportation industries.

In 1925, she married Donald Brewer, who later became a farmer. They had two children, Donald and Mary. She ran into many early difficulties, such as bad roads, breakdowns, and thin ridership. Her first driver was her brother and he quit almost immediately, though he later re-entered the business as a partner. She persevered and in her first year of business acquired two more buses and added trips between Waterloo and Mason City, a regional trading hub.

Schultz moved on to other ventures, including an auto service station, and eventually inherited her father's farm. She died in 1974 in Cascade, Iowa.