Vinton: Surviving without an industrial base

VINTON - At one time, Vinton was the sweet corn canning capital of the United States.

But over the years, the Benton County seat with a 2010 population of 5,257 people has lost most of its industrial base. A town that once boasted farm implement, meat processing and radiator manufacturing plants has transitioned into a 'bedroom community” providing workers for Cedar Rapids and Waterloo.

'Unfortunately, that's probably an accurate picture of Vinton,” said Melissa Schwan, executive director of Vinton Unlimited, a merged chamber of commerce and economic development group.

'I would like to see some industry come back to Vinton, but I don't think it's going to happen overnight. We need to convince businesses that Vinton is a great community where they should locate.”

Schwan said Vinton Unlimited has a Business Opportunity Group comprised of individuals from all aspects of the community - banking, industry, development and marketing.

'They share a common interest in trying to recruit new employers to the community as well as helping current businesses find new opportunities for growth,” Schwan said. 'When I get contact information for a business I think we have a chance to bring to Vinton, I get our ‘swat' team together and tell them what we're looking for.”

The canning industry left Vinton in the late 1950s when farmers switched to hybrid corn, ending employment for hundreds of residents. The only surviving evidence of what was once a thriving industry is the Vinton Canning Seed House at 201 First Ave.

During its busiest years, before World War I, the plant's employees produced more than 3 million cans each year. Green Giant was just one of the well-known brands that operated a canning plant in Vinton.

The farm crisis and economic downturn of the early 1980s took its toll on Vinton's industrial sector.

Hawk-Bilt, a Vinton-based farm implement manufacturer that once was the city's biggest employer with almost 300 employees, saw its sales plummet in the early 1980s as farmers stopped buying new equipment. The company was sold to Farmhand Inc., which moved the production to Grinnell in December 1981.

In November of that same year, Dubuque Packing Co. shut down its Vinton plant - nearly a year before the meat processor's main processing complex in Dubuque closed in October 1982.

In early 1983, Iowa Ham Processors announced plans to open a boning and packaging operation in the former Dubuque Packing plant in Vinton. More than a thousand people lined up to apply for jobs at the plant.

Iowa Ham Processors opened on July 27, 1983, but closed on Dec. 16, 1983, laying off its work force. The company reopened the plant in January 1984, but closed it permanently almost five years later in December 1988 when it shifted the production elsewhere.

Changes and restructuring

When the farm crisis hit, some businesses weathered the storm by adopting new products and services.

Moore Manufacturing - a company that manufactured feeders, watering equipment, fence panels and gates for livestock feedlots - began contract manufacturing and powder coating in 1985.

Ideal Industries, a diversified metal fabrication and finished business serving several industry sectors, is the successor to Moore. The company, which initially was located in the former Vinton Canning Seed House, employs about 40 people.

Patrick Lyons, president and CEO of Ideal Industries, said the company was fairly successful in moving away from farm equipment to making products for original equipment manufacturers.

'Eventually, it was necessary for Ideal Industries to restructure, which it did in the early 1990s,” Lyons said. 'The company came out of that in pretty good shape and moved out of the old Perfex radiator plant in Vinton to a smaller facility on D Street.”

In 2002, Ideal Industries constructed a 50,000-square-foot building in Vinton's industrial park. By 2007, the company was 100 percent contract fabrication for other businesses.

Lyons, who had operated a metal fabrication shop in Clarence, bought Hunwardsen Manufacturing in January 2007. Ideal Industries bought Hunwardsen one year later.

In 2009, the company acquired S.A.T. Corp., a manufacturer of stainless steel carwash components, Ideal Industries continued to expand with the 2012 purchase of Winthrop Trailers, a manufacturer of tile-stringing trailers and repair parts.

In 2014, Ideal Industries launched Ideal Conveyance, an original equipment manufacturer of conveyors and bucket elevators.

'We have about three lines of business that are our own products, and we continue to do contract fabrication,” Lyons said. 'We are having to learn the marketing side of the business for our own products.”

While the completion of Interstate 380 from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo in 1985 cut the driving time between those communities by half an hour, Lyons said it negatively affected Vinton's ability to attract industry to the community.

'Highway 218 was the major artery between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo. It ran right through Vinton,” said Lyons, who grew up in the region. 'A large equipment manufacturer wants to be located on a major artery.

'Eleven miles away, Urbana has a pretty decent industrial park in Urbana, but it's right off Interstate 380.”

While Ideal Industries competes for labor with large manufacturers such as Deere in Waterloo, Lyons said he is able to retain a skilled, quality work force.

'They do the math and they know what it will cost to commute to Cedar Rapids or Waterloo and what they would lose in driving time every day,” Lyons said. 'I don't pay what Deere pays, but our guys know there is a discount to work there.”