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.
It’s always nice to see our friends doing well. (See right. Click to enlarge.) We’ve had a long and storied history with ITAMCO going back to when we knew them as Indiana Tool. My father and Don Neidig, one of the founding brothers, were good friends, which developed from our work at the manufacturing facilities and Don’s Church in Plymouth, Grace Baptist Church.
It’s good to see them doing well and we hope that this will lead to things that require us to work together again!
Congratulations ITAMCO!
Article copied from The Pilot News 12-20-16
We were pleased to be selected to be the contractor for the Viking Paper expansion project in Plymouth. There was a blurb on the expansion in Inside Indiana Business here, but somehow they failed to mention us! Shame on them!
It is proving to be an interesting project. The building is being designed to have train cars enter the building for unloading at a recessed loading dock. This is involving some interesting logistics including some esoteric clearance requirements provided by the railroad engineers. (The ones that design railroad tracks, not the ones that blow the whistles when the trains cross the highway…) Viking works with large rolls of paper stock, so being able to offload their materials inside the building and out of the weather is valuable to them.
Jerry Chavez and Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) have been instrumental in helping us move this forward, both with the City of Plymouth and with the Railroad.
MCEDC has been pleased to have the Commerce Building, a new shell building in Plymouth, to market to companies considering our area. Started in 2014 and completed in 2015, the Commerce Building has been responsible for bringing many companies to Marshall County that wouldn’t have otherwise considered us. At least one new business start-up, investing millions and providing hundreds of jobs, located in Marshall County this year because of coming to see the Commerce Building. The power of having a shell building to show has proven its value to us.
Below is a press release on the relocation of Pretzels Inc. to Plymouth. A good company and a good fit for Plymouth. Now we need to figure out how to keep this momentum going forward.
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Snack Producer Plans to Add Second Indiana Facility, Create 65 New Jobs
Plymouth – Pretzels Inc., a pretzel and snack producer, announced plans today to expand its operations here, creating up to 65 new jobs by 2020.
“Here in Indiana, we have worked diligently to establish Indiana as the best place to do business by reducing regulations, cutting taxes and investing in our workforce,” said Governor Mike Pence. “Today’s news is evidence that Indiana is a state that works for companies like Pretzels Inc. as they continue to choose Indiana to grow their operations. As we enter into our third century, we will continue our economic momentum by equipping our job creators with the tools they need to succeed and creating a pro-growth business environment.”
The company, which is a pretzel and snack food private label provider, will invest approximately $15 million to purchase and equip a 45,000-square-foot facility at 2910 Commerce St. in Plymouth. The new plant, which will be the second Indiana location in addition to its Bluffton-based headquarters, will be responsible for the production of peanut butter and bulk pretzel products and will replace the company’s Pennsylvania-based manufacturing facility. Operations are expected to start at the beginning of 2017.
Pretzels Inc., which currently has 330 full-time employees at its headquarters in Bluffton, Indiana, plans to hire plant management and supervision, packagers, bakers, machine operators, quality control technicians and sanitation, maintenance and warehouse workers for its new center. Hiring will begin later this year.
“We are excited about the opportunity to build our new plant in Indiana and particularly the Plymouth area,” said Chip Mann and Steve Huggins, co-owners of Pretzels Inc., whose fathers started the business over 40 years ago. “We are lifelong Indiana residents and are pleased to continue the growth of our business in our home state.”
Founded in 1978, Pretzels Inc. is a family-owned business headquartered in Bluffton, Indiana. The company offers pretzels in over 50 shapes, 20 sizes and 900 varieties for both store brands, private labels and its own Harvest Road products. Its fastest growing product line is peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets, which will be produced at the new Plymouth-based facility.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Pretzels Inc. up to $350,000 in conditional tax credits based on the company’s job creation plans. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives. The city of Plymouth will consider additional incentives at the request of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation.
“The City of Plymouth is proud to welcome Pretzels Inc. into our community,” said Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter. “Plymouth will see the benefits of job creation and a strengthened economy very soon thanks to a team of both state and local leaders who have come together to make this project a reality.”
The Hoosier state ranks first in the Midwest and fifth nationally for the cost of doing business and companies like Pretzels Inc. continue to choose Indiana to grow their operations. Today, one in five Hoosiers work in the manufacturing industry and more than 8,500 industry establishments are located across the state.