Pictured left to right, Darek VanKirk, Progressive Foundry president; Jackson VanKirk, vice president of sales; and Kirk VanKirk, president.
The VanKirk name and family is well-known in Perry, and the same is true at Lake Panorama.
By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
Progressive Foundry in Perry has had someone with the last name of VanKirk at its helm since 1981. Today, the second and third generations of VanKirks own and operate the business. The foundry has 193,000 square feet of building space across three blocks just north of Perry’s downtown area.
Progressive Foundry occupies 193,000 square feet of building space across three blocks just north of Perry’s downtown area.
Dallas “Pete” VanKirk attended high school in Moville, then continued his education at Wayne State in Wayne, Nebraska, and Yankton College in Yankton, South Dakota. In 1963, VanKirk began work as a core maker in Decatur, Illinois. Two years later, he moved to Perry to work as plant manager at Progressive Foundry.
The beginnings of Progressive Foundry can be traced to 1916 when it was built as a captive cast iron supplier for the At Last Washing Machine Company. A.S. Kibby, founder and owner of the washing machine company, built At Last Foundry as an addition to the south side of the washing machine assembly plant to solve the dilemma of getting expensive castings from the East Coast.
When sales at the washing machine company slowed, the foundry was sold in 1919 and reopened as the Perry Foundry. In the early 1920s, another person started Progressive Foundry in the basement of the At Last Washing Machine assembly plant. Progressive Foundry ownership changed several times over the next several decades.
A production employee uses a ladle to fill sand molds with iron that is 2,750 degrees. The iron in the sand mold needs to cool to below 1,200 degrees. Then the sand is separated from the iron casting, processed and reused, while the casting is transported to the finishing department.
Safetran Systems, a manufacturer of railroad traffic signals, bought the company in 1966. Safetran operated the foundry until 1981 when management decided to relocate its foundry operations. Pete VanKirk, the foundry’s plant manager, and Mike Hodges, lead accountant, bought Progressive Foundry from Safetran. In 1985, Hodges sold his shares of the foundry to VanKirk.
Pete’s two sons, Kirk and Darek VanKirk, both joined the company fulltime in the 1980s.
“The 1980s were very tough years to keep the business afloat because of the farm crisis, but it was good for the long term because it forced us into other markets besides agriculture,” Darek VanKirk says. “The foundry poured about 20 ton of iron each day in the 1980s, and now we pour 75 tons daily with a one-shift operation.”
While the two brothers started at Progressive Foundry fulltime in the 1980s, both had worked there part-time for many years.
“Our dad was a hard-working, blue-collar guy who started in a foundry in Illinois and worked his way up,” says Darek. “He believed Kirk and I should learn the foundry from a hands-on approach, so we each worked there from the time we were 12 years old. I started as a janitor and then as an hourly production employee. We both worked there summers through high school and college.”
After high school graduation, Kirk attended Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, majoring in business. He joined Progressive Foundry fulltime in 1981, the same year his father purchased the business. Darek earned a degree in finance from Simpson College. He graduated in 1986, then started with the family business fulltime.
A Progressive Foundry employee makes a sand mold with an automatic molding machine. A mold is made by squeezing sand around a pattern that makes an impression inside the mold. The void the pattern made then is filled with liquid iron, making a casting.
Darek and his wife, Carol, have two sons. Like their father and uncle, they both graduated from Perry Community Schools and worked in the foundry growing up.
Jackson graduated from Luther College in Decorah in May 2017 with a degree in chemistry, then started working fulltime at Progressive Foundry. He is now vice president of sales.
Kade VanKirk graduated from UNI in May 2020 with a degree in manufacturing engineering and a foundry emphasis. He has been working in Casa Grande, Arizona, since then, but will join Progressive Foundry fulltime March 1 as a quality engineer.
The business is known as a jobbing foundry, which means they make parts for other manufacturers to make products.
“We recycle iron, such as old car bodies that are shredded down and steel punchings. We have two five-metric ton electric furnaces that melt iron down to a molten state of 2,800 degrees in about 50 minutes,” Kirk VanKirk says. “Then we pour it into sand molds to make new parts that are sold to other manufacturers around the country. Industries we serve include agriculture, municipalities, construction and general businesses.”
Members of the VanKirk family are shown inside Progressive Foundry in Perry. Left to right, Kirk and Lori VanKirk; Darek and Carol VanKirk; Jackson and Maddie VanKirk and their 2-year-old son RJ. Kirk and Darek are the company’s presidents. Jackson is vice president of sales. Not shown is Kade VanKirk, who will join the family business March 1 as a quality engineer.
Most of the company’s customers are from the Midwest, the Great Lakes region, and south from Iowa to Texas. Their largest customer is located in Colorado Springs.
“We make all of the water hydrants you see in parks and recreation areas, campgrounds and on farms in that area,” Darek says. “These water hydrants have Iowa across the front and are easily recognizable.”
Pete VanKirk passed away in the fall of 2016. Company operations continued under Kirk and Darek, who each carry the title of president.
Progressive Foundry now has 85 employees with 67 of those hourly and 18 salaried. A sales representative firm in Little Rock handles the company’s southern accounts.
One section of the business is named “Pete’s Machine” in honor Pete VanKirk.
“He passed away before we started the machine shop,” Kirk says. “When a customer requires a machined casting to have it ready for assembly at their plant, we can provide them with the casting made in the foundry, fully machined and ready to attach onto the piece of equipment they are building.”
Foundries are rare in Iowa. John Deere has the largest foundry in the state, located in Waterloo.
A year after Pete VanKirk died in August 2016, a sculpture created in his honor was unveiled in the Willis Avenue median near Hotel Pattee. The sculpture, titled Born of Fire, features a gear-driven ladle pouring molten metal. LED lights project from the base of the 15-foot artwork and simulate the appearance of liquid metal.
“I believe we have the second largest foundry in Iowa,” Darek says. “We are considered a mid-sized foundry nationwide. There are approximately 2,500 foundries in the United States with most of those in the Great Lakes region. When we started in this business in the early 1980s, the nation had more than 6,000 foundries.”
Darek admits to being biased when he says Progressive Foundry is one of the nicest mid-sized foundries in the nation.
“Our equipment and facilities are as up to date as any other foundry in the nation,” he says. “Kirk and I have spent money to update our whole facility with new offices, restroom and shower facilities, lunch room, training facilities, and a new core production building, just since 2019. With another generation willing to continue to keep the place a family business, we have invested heavily so they can succeed into the future.”
The VanKirk name and family is well-known in Perry, and the same is true at Lake Panorama.
“Our father purchased a waterfront lot in Burchfield Cove in the mid-1980s, so we spent a lot of time at Lake Panorama while growing up,” says Kirk. “He bought the lot for $1,200 for back taxes and sold it for $50,000 in 1998.”
Kirk and Darek each bought one of the white condos just south of The Port in 1997 when those were newly constructed. Later, they and their families sold their condos and purchased homes elsewhere at Lake Panorama.
Kirk says he and his wife Lori think Lake Panorama is a wonderful place to live.
“We enjoy the golf, boating and having the grandkids enjoy the lake with us. They call our place Camp VanKirk,” says Kirk. “We also enjoy all the new friends and neighbors we have met along the way. I especially like the outdoors and the hunting and fishing available in the area. We have become involved in Lutheran Church of Hope Panora and enjoy our new church family.”
Darek says he and his wife Carol have met “some incredibly nice people at Lake Panorama. We both enjoy the many outdoor activities involving the lake, boating, fishing, hiking and bicycling. Carol is an avid golfer and she enjoys the incredible golf courses and the golfing community.”
A year after Pete VanKirk died in August 2016, a sculpture created in his honor was unveiled in the Willis Avenue median near Hotel Pattee. The sculpture was commissioned by Perry’s Art on the Prairie committee and executed by Des Moines artist John Brommel. The sculpture, titled “Born of Fire,” features a gear-driven ladle pouring molten metal, which is a common sight at Progressive Foundry. LED lights project from the base of the 15-foot artwork and simulate the appearance of liquid metal.
“Our father was well liked and respected in Perry because of his community involvement and philanthropy toward the city and the school system,” Darek says. “Our family lived in Perry beginning in 1965, so he was well known. Plus, Progressive Foundry has always been one of the major employers in town. It’s very touching the community did that on the main boulevard of Perry for Dad.”
Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) opened the DMACC Perry VanKirk Career Academy in 2010.
“Kirk and I set up a foundation in the 1980s and had been putting money away for many years, knowing we would give it toward something in the community someday,” Darek says. “When we were asked to be the lead contributor to get DMACC to Perry, we quickly decided to use the foundation money we had been saving. We knew this would be a great benefit to the people of Perry and surrounding communities to be able to get college credit classes for free while kids are still in high school.”
Both Kirk and Darek say they enjoy the foundry business.
“I think part of the reason we enjoy it is because we grew up with it,” Kirk says. “Our father instilled in us to give back to the community and to understand that our largest asset is our employees. We also enjoy working together as a family. And now that we have a third generation coming up behind us to carry on this family tradition, the future is bright.”