By BRADY JONES
Lyman-Richey Corporation Communications

2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the very first Gerhold company project on record. For the company’s 100th anniversary in 1969, a condensed history was written and printed up. Below is a reprinting of most of that history.

By MARY CAHILL
Gerhold Concrete

Started by a pioneer, reactivated and developed by his son and expanded by his grandsons, a Nebraska business is celebrating its 100th birthday this year (1969).

Gerhold Company has long been recognized as a leader in the heavy construction industry in Nebraska. Its operations and family holdings have mushroomed to incorporate a four-county sand and gravel company, three concrete products plants and a farming and cattle raising operation.

Gerhold Company began when William F. Gerhold, a veteran of the American Civil War and wounded at Shiloh, came to the fertile Platte valley in the mid-1800s to begin a new life.

Born of Pennsylvania Dutch settlers in Berks County, Pennsylvania, he had spent his boyhood in Dayton, Ohio, and welcomed the challenge of the open West.

As the Platte territory and the new community of Columbus, Nebraska, became more settled, his skills as a carpenter and builder were in demand.

The county was beginning a program to lay out new roads into the surrounding rural area of homesteaders. According to handwritten records still on file in the Platte County Court House in Columbus, William F. Gerhold tendered a bid and was awarded a contract on June 8, 1869, to build several bridges across Shell Creek. A year later he again was building bridges in Platte County.

Although he eventually turned to farming and stock raising, he continued to do a limited amount of building work.

In 1921, his sons William Gerhold, Sr., and the late A. N. “Doc” Gerhold formed a partnership with L. P. Carstenson and Walter Matzen to supply sand and gravel in the construction of a project known as a “seeding mile of concrete paving” on old Lincoln Highway, now Federal Highway 30 south of Columbus.

It was here that the Gerhold brothers became pioneers in their own right by developing a new concept of processing sand and gravel using the hydraulic or pumping methods from the water bearing sand and gravel deposits along the streams and valleys of Nebraska.

Dredging the channel for Loup Power District in 1935.

At that time, practically all materials, including sand and gravel, were moved by rail and horse-drawn wagon across the mud flats. William Gerhold, Sr., and his brother concluded that a new method was vital to get their product to a place of use. Pneumatic tired Model T Ford trucks had just arrived on the market, and this firm became one of the first in the State of Nebraska to buy and use a fleet of these trucks. Nebraskans now had a new way out of the mud into graveled roads.

After that, various construction and gravel supply contracts were completed in the surrounding area of Nebraska and Gerhold Company became a pioneer in the use of Diesel-powered equipment for grading roads.

Among the early sizeable contracts awarded the firm was one in 1928 to gravel 26 miles of road between Madison and Newman Grove, requiring about 30,000 cubic yards of road gravel. Frank Gerhold, another brother, was in charge of this job. Here again the firm capitalized on a new method and added a new fleet of Model A Ford trucks just on the market that year.

The Gerhold Company teamed up with another famous Nebraska firm, Peter Kiewit and Sons, to construct highways in the area of Norfolk and Erickson, Nebraska.

In 1935, the company was active in the construction of the Loup Power District canal running from Columbus to Genoa, as well as a number of bridges in the area.

Gerhold Company again had a chance to show its pioneer spirit when in 1940 it was involved in the grading and surfacing of a ten-mile stretch of new highway between Valentine and Thedford, Nebraska.

Reading like an adventure story, the project is remembered by the old-timers in the firm. The heavy and constant winds shifted away the sandy soil in that area almost faster than the crews could put it in place. It was necessary to camp on the job in huge bunk house trailers. When a fire destroyed the bunk houses, a large canvas tent was used for the remainder of the job. E. J. Gerhold, Jr., and James Gerhold, now active in conducting the company affairs, were high school boys at the time, working with the crews. They were forced to sleep in a hay stack until the tents arrived.

The Gerhold Company crew inspects the remains of the Valentine fire. Left to right: Jim Gerhold, Irwin Liewer, Frank Kosiba, and Ed Micek — The Gerhold Company crew inspects the remains of the Valentine fire.
Left to right: Jim Gerhold, Irwin Liewer, Frank Kosiba, and Ed Micek

The construction business developed and grew during these years through the ingenuity and skill and spirit of competitive contracting. New methods were employed to give better service at a lower cost to the citizens of Nebraska.

In 1947, the Gerhold Company began a ready mix division in Columbus and added a concrete block making plant in 1952. This operation was expanded in later years in Norfolk and Fremont to serve Eastern Nebraska.

William Gerhold, Sr., and his family are now sole owners and operators of the various Gerhold family enterprises. They include Cedar Lane Farms, Inc., Central Sand and Gravel Company, Gerhold Concrete Products, Inc., Gerhold Company, and Gerhold Development Company.

In addition to being president of Gerhold Company, William, Sr., is chairman of the board of Gerhold Concrete Products, Inc., president of Cedar Lane Farms, Inc., and president of Columbus Savings and Loan Association. He is a past presidnet of the Nebraska Chapter of Associated General Contractors.

He and his wife, the former Helen Kozolowski, married August 24, 1920. They have three children, W. J. Gerhold, Jr., James S. Gerhold, and Mary Cahill who are associated in the business.

The Gerhold Story