Very cool that Marge still has friends like this looking out for her. She still calls us on occasion to help with minor household needs.
Marge is a former Easterday Construction Co., Inc. employee, working for us into her 70’s. She was always a cheerful influence around the office and a huge “Company Woman”. She would always promote Easterdays and was thrilled with the logo-wear we would give out at times during the year. The last time I saw her she had to show me the hat she still had. I would have given her another, but she was still keeping that one in immaculate condition.
It’s hard to believe that she’s still going strong at 87. We all wish her many more good years. It’s a loss to the town that we don’t see her peddling her old blue bike with the big basket on the front around anymore. She was one of Culver’s iconic fixtures.
Article scanned from the Pilot News – 8-28-17
I got called to the principal’s office at the Plymouth High School the other night and ran across this dedication plaque. This is a project that was completed by Easterday Construction before I was born! Actually, I think this is before Dad was back with the company. I don’t think he returned to work at Easterday Construction until 62 or 63. It’s always interesting to run across these things.
My great grandfather, Russell L. Easterday, would have still been alive and running the company at that time. As I understand the history, the office would have been at the current location on Slate Street in Culver. I would assume my great uncle Jack Easterday or possibly my grandfather, Bob Berger, would have been superintendent on the job. That’s just supposition though.
An article in The Pilot News (See right) a few months back was cause for reflection on one of Easterday Construction Co., Inc.’s long time clients. ITAMCO (known to us here as Indiana Tool) celebrated their 60th anniversary in August of last year. Founded by brothers Donald and Noble Neidig, the company has been a big part of the Plymouth community.
I found the article interesting since, even when I work with a company such as ITAMCO often, I get surprised sometimes by the things I don’t know about them. I was aware of their work with the schools through my board position with the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), but I was unaware how their business had evolved into areas of software development.
As with many relationships, Easterday Construction’s connection to ITAMCO began with some minor projects. The Neidigs were members of the Grace Baptist Church and through some repair projects there, a relationship was formed between my father and the Neidig family – and Don Neidig in particular. From that beginning, dozens of other projects were completed, mostly on just a hand-shake. That was the kind of relationship that was formed. We completed several plant additions to the Plymouth facility including the office renovation and addition, which for a long time was featured on the front of our company brochure. We were also the go-to for many of the family’s home projects as well.
As I previously related here on Don’s passing, Don trusted Dad implicitly. When Dad retired, Don called me. He told me, “I always called your Dad and all I had to say was ‘Berger, get it done’. I hope I can trust you the same way.” What could I say? I said, “Yes, Sir!” And Don called me for all the things he needed and I was happy to help him. One of the last things I did for him was some remodeling work at his home. I enjoyed seeing him during those times. I will miss those conversations.
When Noble Neidig passed last year, it was a generational change for their company. We had also worked on Nobe and Barb Neidig’s home and new them well. We still have a relationship with the family and still do work for ITAMCO. While economic changes have resulted in fewer projects of the scope we completed in the past (plus their purchase of the Argos facility giving them ample room for current expansion needs) we still work with ITAMCO and the Neidigs on various small projects and remain friends. We look forward to a continued friendship and working relationship in the future.
In another of his “Throw-back Thursdays”, Jeff Kenney mentioned the Culver Branch of the First National Bank of Monterey in an “If These Walls Could Talk” article. This is yet another project in Easterday Construction Co., Inc.’s historic links to Culver. Easterday Construction built this branch in 1992. It was modeled after the branch in Winamac (To which we later remodeled and added to as well). It’s always fun to see the legacy Easterday Construction has left through the buildings we constructed and sometimes the institutions those buildings represent.
Our long relationship with clients like this lead us to be the go to source when problems crop up. Those of you who use the drive through probably have noticed that someone backed into one of the columns. We’re currently working on obtaining a replacement. Unfortunately matching the column that was installed there 18 years ago won’t be as easy as just pulling something right off the shelf!
One of the cool details we did for the bank when we worked on the Monterey Annex a few years back was to recreate their new logo as a 3-D metal sculpture on the front of the building. We’re still quite proud of that and the way it sets off the building.
Jeff Kenny borrowed a box of pictures I was given by the Culver Post Office a few years ago. He plans to scan them for the history museum. I’ve scanned them all including a large quantity of construction records from the project showing draws and wage rates. All of it is extremely interesting and provides a glimpse into the early history of our family business. Our early history is somewhat sketchy and our earliest project record we have is the concrete marker on the Culver Elementary School Gym which credits us with the construction in 1929. (It was the High School gym then, long before the school consolidation.)
Jeff’s Throw Back Thursday article on the Culver Post Office gives some history of the site and includes a few pictures, one of which I included to here to the left. Purusing through the records from the project, I’m not sure if anyone who worked on it is alive today, but I doubt it. It was a depression era project and I have heard family stories of my great grandfather, Russell Easterday, taking the overnight train to Washington, D.C. with submittals and bids for government work during that time. At that time in our early history, the offices for the company were on the second floor of the State Exchange Bank building (currently First Farmers Bank & Trust). The current building at 402 North Slate Street was constructed on Russell’s farm in the 1950’s.
Image Source: Jeff Kenny – The Pilot News