Gopher Concrete Products

Gopher Concrete was established September 15, 1907 under the name Madelia Cement Tile Company.	A. H. Martin
There were seven people on the Board of Directors. Two of the original stockholders were A.H. Martin and his wife Katherine, grandparents of the current President Rick Smith. "My grandfather owned stock in several concrete tile plants," says Rick. "A. H. was managing the Madelia plant. During the Depression the board offered him

	stock instead of a salary. He ended up with 100 percent ownership, but it wasn't really worth anything." This has been a family owned business ever since. The company made it through the Depression by selling gravel for highway projects. "My Dad hauled out the first load of tile after the Depression," says Rick.
1925
"My parents (Walt & Dorothy Smith) purchased the tile plant in 1948." They expanded operations to Redwood Falls in 1954. They built the block plant in New Ulm in 1961 and changed the name to Gopher Concrete Products Company, Inc. Gopher joined the Unit Step organization in 1964.

A new office was built in Madelia in 1965. At that time, Gopher manufactured tile, block, septic tanks, and steps. The Sleepy Eye ready-mix plant was added in 1972.
"I started working here when I was fifteen," says Rick. "Dad hired a lot of high school kids in the summer. The football players liked the workout they got stacking tile. "Dad designed and built all of his machinery," says Rick. The machines to make the big tile and a machine to make 6 inch tile six-at-a-time instead of the normal one-at-a-time. He put one machine in Madelia and one in Redwood Falls. "Then we could really haul tile," says Rick. "Dad made a third machine that he sold to Belle Plaine Block & Tile."
Walt liked automation and continued designing improvements to the block plant "until we had the second

Walt Smith

fully-automated block plant in the United States.
"My brother, Jim, was managing the Redwood Falls plant and my brother-in-law, Jim Christenson, was managing the Madelia plant," said Rick. "I worked for my brother for three years and on January 2nd 1975 I started managing the block plant. My wife Kathy and I moved to New Ulm and she worked in the office."
We bought Unit Step Form Co. in 1975 and moved the operations to Sleepy Eye. In 1976 Jim & Shirley Smith bought the Redwood Falls plant and Jim & Betty Christenson bought the Madelia plant. In 1976 Rick Nelson started working for Gopher. His first job assignment was hand digging a hole for the mixer in the new hog slat production building at New Ulm. He continued working part-time until

Rick Smith

he finished college. After college Rick Nelson worked in Sleepy Eye for the Form Company building step forms and later managing the Sleepy Eye plant.
    "In 1984 Dad and Mom were ready for retirement so Kathy and I, and my sister, Peg and Rick Nelson bought their stock," said Rick. Other siblings also hold stock in the company.
    "We bought the Madelia plant in 1989. In 1993 Rick and I decided to cut down on the weekends and nights we were working because of the block and ready-mix businesses.     We sold the New Ulm and Sleepy Eye plants and moved all of the precast production and the Form Company to Madelia."
    The current generation owners continue to make improvements: a 41' x 264' precast building built in two

Rick Nelson

phases, and a ready-mix plant to supply the concrete for their precast production. They have added to their product line and have increased from the initial four Madelia employees in 1993 to 26 currently employed.

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