Des Moines Register at 175: Celebrating businesses with family ties that help Iowa endure

The vast variety of Iowa businesses that have reached the century mark ranges from insurers to agricultural equipment manufacturers to an upscale department store chain.

But many members of the century club are alike in one aspect: They are the product of multiple generations of family ownership.

The Des Moines Register, celebrating its 175th birthday this month, has welcomed others to the party, inviting century-old businesses to send us their stories. We heard from 47, and thumbnail looks at all of them can be found at desmoinesregister.com:

More: Des Moines Register at 175: Pursuing rigorous reporting amid technological, societal change

Just a few among them:

• Boeke Funeral Homes in Hardin County. Mark Boeke, the fifth generation to own the business since its founding in 1892, says generation six, his daughter Emily, will join him this fall.
• Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance, which began the following year. The fifth-generation owners are descendants of founders W.A. Rutledge and his wife, Jessie, who they say handwrote the first 2,650 insurance policies.
• Hubbell Realty. The Hubbell name is ubiquitous in Des Moines history, starting with Frederick Marion Hubbell, who arrived in Des Moines as a teenager in the 1850s and embarked on a 75-year career in real estate, insurance and railroads. His heirs also have been leaders in the development of Iowa's capital city, and a Hubbell descendant, Fred Ingham, serves as board chair of the company, a leading residential, commercial and industrial/office developer that continues to transform the central Iowa landscape.
• Von Maur. The department store chain is the unicorn of retail, thriving while others have struggled in the age of online commerce. Founded in 1872 and now under fourth-generation CEO Jim Von Maur, the 15-state, 37-store company has invested in quality and customer service while many stockholder-owned competitors have succumbed to endless cost-cutting.

And of course, Iowa's farms, its oldest businesses, are often passed from generation to generation. Seventh-generation owner Sam Shaff holds claim to the oldest continuously family-owned farm in Iowa. The Shaff family acquired the acreage near Clinton in 1837.

The Register itself owes a debt to two families who gave it a firm foundation: the Clarksons, who over 32 years of ownership beginning in 1870 raised it to statewide prominence, and the Cowleses, whose 82 years of ownership from 1903 to 1985 led it to national recognition for impactful journalism and public service.

Family ownership also can come with many challenges. Here's a closer look at three longtime family-owned Iowa companies and how they've managed to survive and thrive — and why, according to one expert, they're crucial for Iowa. In addition, an owner of a 78-year-old business talks about what drives him to have his business join the century club.

More: From insurers to builders to a co-op, these Iowa businesses have stood the test of time

Kurtz Hardware, Des Moines: Laying claim as city's oldest family business

Bob Kurtz traces his business back to 1866, one year after the end of the Civil War. His great-great grandfather, one of just three among 13 members of his family who survived the journey from their native Germany to Iowa, opened a tinsmith shop in Des Moines.

His ancestor started the storefront with money saved from traveling from farm to farm in a covered wagon to provide his services. Kurtz believes it to be the oldest continuously operated family business in the city.

Passed down father to son, it grew into a hardware and sporting goods store downtown at 312 Walnut St. After 116 years at that location, it moved to its current home at 1473 Keosauqua Way in 1983.

A 1998 roof collapse during a deluge prompted Kurtz to rethink his business model. Faced with growing competition from big-box stores and the time demands of a young family, he turned it into a store that specializes in providing doors and related hardware, mainly to remodelers, builders and other contractors.

His son, Patrick, has been the sixth generation to work in the business, though the line of succession is not yet clear.

It also wasn't clear when Kurtz joined the business in 1979. His older brother was first in line to be his now late father's successor, and Kurtz, figuring he was out of the picture, went to college and, as he put it, had "followed a girl to Arizona." Then he got a call from his dad. His brother had quit, he said, and his father told him, "If you want to be with the business, get back here now."

He said he pondered on it, "and I realized … a lot of people work their whole life to have a business."

He said he knew the family dynamic, and having worked at the store since he was old enough to push a broom, he knew the trade. He felt confident about taking on the role.

"So I did it," he said.

His return coincided with a historic event, he said: "I came back the day the pope was here in Des Moines."

The business has no lack of history itself.

"It's survived two wars, the Great Depression. And now you throw COVID in that pile," Kurtz said.

He also recalled the building bust of the Great Recession.

"I remember picking up the phone to make sure it was working because it just wasn't ringing," he said.

His formula for success, like that of many multigenerational businesses, is to embody the values his father and grandfather passed down to him: Maintain strong relationships with your customers. Carry the best products for value. And be a good person to your employees, your community and yourself.

"I was taught to do the right thing, to make sure the expectations of both parties were met," Kurtz said.

He figures he'll work as long as he can. As with his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather, the business is his identity, and it will be his legacy, even if it ends up being passed to someone outside the family.

"I heard a quote," he said. "'In three generations, nobody will know who you were.' I'm OK. I don't have to be known in three generations. But in three generations, they'll know who this company was."

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More: Some of Iowa's oldest institutions join Register's birthday celebration. See list of 44:

ALMACO, Nevada, maker of seed-development equipment: 'Work is what drives us'

For ALMACO, the line of succession hasn't been quite as direct as Kurtz's. CEO Patrick Clem says his father started working in 1972 for Willard Allan, a third cousin, at what had started a century earlier as Allan Blacksmithing and Welding Co.

The shop made some small, motorized threshing equipment that separated seeds from pods and chaff. It caught the eye of seed researchers at Iowa State University, who were separating seeds by hand for hybrid corn and soybean development. They approached Allan about making a larger, more complex, self-propelled combine, especially adapted to harvest small plots and provide seed in quantity for research needs.

Allan, Clem said, wasn't interested. But his father was, and bought Allan out. He went on to perfect the desired combine, as well as planters that could quickly seed small research plots with different varieties.

"One thing led to another," Clem said. "It charted a course for our business."

Now, ALMACO is the primary supplier of seed-planting, threshing and other research-oriented equipment not only for universities around the world, but global seed companies like Pioneer, Monsanto and Stine.

With a reputation for innovation, the company also designs and builds paving equipment and does contract manufacturing for companies like Sukup, the Sheffield grain-bin maker (and also a multigeneration family firm). ALMACO has 225 employees, not just in the United States but also Brazil, which like Iowa is a major grower of corn and soybeans.

"When you travel through the Midwest and Iowa in the summertime, the corn and soybeans you see, those varieties were most likely developed with a piece of ALMACO equipment," Clem said. "It's kind of an eerie feeling that little ALMACO in Nevada, Iowa, has had such a big impact on feeding the world."

That, he acknowledged, is what helps keep the family company moving forward, despite sometimes difficult dynamics. He noted, for instance, that he's the CEO over his older brother, who holds the title of chief solutions officer.

"What makes that work is we have recognized we have different strengths," he said. "He's much better at day-to-day operations, tactical details., those kinds of things, where I’m more focused on strategy, product development, the market.

"If we disagree about something, we get into an argument about something, we have a special relationship," he said. "At the end of the day, we’re fine. We’re brothers."

But he acknowledged that the business is always on their minds and in their conversations.

"I will say our family does not do a good job of shutting it off," he said. "Good, bad or indifferent, work is our life. We talk about it constantly. Work is what drives us. We want to serve God and humanity through this organization. And it’s just ingrained in us. It’s a blessing and a curse. But it truly is part of our lives."

They've had offers for the company, he said, "But we want to make a difference, and we want to have our hands on the steering wheel to make sure this happens."

Another generation is gradually becoming immersed in the family mission. Clem said his son, 16, and his sister's three sons work on the factory floor in the summertime, just as he and his brother did, learning each job and process.

"We're trying to get them involved, trying to get them engaged and develop their work ethic," he said. "If they have the desire, education and work experience, I’m sure there will be opportunities for them here in the organization if they choose to take those opportunities.

"That's definitely our plan," he said.

Josephs Jewelers, West Des Moines: 'We're here for the community'

Jake Joseph, president of Josephs Jewelers, and sister Trisha are generation No. 5 in the company, where they also work with their aunt Debra, a member of generation four.

The company started with Solomon Joseph, a watchmaker who emigrated from what is now Poland in 1861. He worked in the clockmaking town of Elgin, Illinois, then found his way to the bustling railroad town of Des Moines and started the business in 1871. It served a clientele largely made up of railway conductors who depended on accurate, dependable timepieces to make their livings, Jake Joseph said.

Like many watchmakers, he said, his great-great-grandfather diversified into making glasses and ultimately, jewelry, though even today, the Josephs keep two watchmakers on staff.

"It's still an important part of the business," Joseph said.

Though at various and sometimes multiple locations over time, the company is now consolidated in West Glen Town Center in West Des Moines.

Joseph said that from an early age, each generation was aware of the family ethos: "I think the big thing that really helps us is that when you're multigenerational, you're raised that there's a way we run the company and a way we operate in the community. You're really a part of the fabric of Des Moines. We're here for the community and not to line our pockets."

In the jewelry business, where people spend appreciable sums with the expectation of enduring quality and satisfaction, it's more than just the jeweler's knowledge that customers are relying on, he said. It's applying the right knowledge the right way.

He cited what he said was his father's motto concerning customers: "Always find out what they really want."

"You know, integrity goes down to, we don't want to give an answer that isn't the right answer," Joseph said.

It's what keeps customers coming back, generation after generation, he said.

"We have many customers where we're selling engagement rings to the fourth generation of customers," he said. "I just sold a ring yesterday to someone whose parents bought their rings from us, and their parents brought their rings from us."

And what, generation after generation, keeps members of the family coming to work in the business — a profession in which Joseph said there's no such thing as a Saturday off or a December vacation?

One thing he said he, his sister and aunt believe: It's not putting pressure on the next generation to join up.

"We have kind of an interesting approach," he said. "We do everything in our power to promulgate other career paths or other career options. We do everything to not push the store on the next generation. There's an element of: If you’re joining the business, it’s a passion. It’s what you want to do."

That was the case for him, he said. He was on course to become a computer programmer. But when working in the family business while in high school, he found he liked being out on the floor "and talking to people and having that mobility that comes with retail as opposed to being at a desk all day."

The sixth generation is still in high school, but one of his daughters is in gift wrapping and another is about to join her, he said.

Should they ultimately cast their lots with the company, they will learn how to compartmentalize their working and family lives, he said — a key family precept.

"What we're pretty careful to protect is, leave the personal, personal, and business, business," he said. "Just remember, it’s not personal; it’s a business decision. It doesn’t change the family relationship.

"We’re lucky we were always taught business first, family matters second. Meaning, if someone offended you at Thanksgiving dinner, that will not enter the business," he said.

Yet that closely held knowledge of one another's abilities and foibles is ultimately a strength, he said.

"You can go to a different level with each other than what you would with an employee," he said.

"That’s always been a huge driver for our strategic planning," he said. "We know the intimate details of each other’s lives, knowing how you can serve the business, but how does the business serve you?"

Why family-owned, multigenerational companies are important to Iowa

Anyone who's experienced an uncomfortable family get-together like Joseph's example of a tense Thanksgiving dinner knows it can take a lot of patience and effort to keep a family civil and cohesive — sometimes for just 10 minutes, let alone a century or more.

At the University of Northern Iowa, Dan Beenken heads an initiative that's devoted to helping Iowa's multigenerational family companies navigate those challenges.

"It’s not easy to last as long as Kurtz Hardware," Beenken said, citing Bob Kurtz, an enthusiastic participant in and advocate of the UNI Family Business Center's annual conferences and monthly virtual get-togethers. "It’s not even close to easy. To make it from generation to generation, I think the biggest thing is, it take a sense of ownership that becomes stewardship.

"When a  family’s owning a company, if they think of it, 'What’s in it for me?' — if that’s how you run your company, it often isn’t going to last," he said. "If you think of it being for the next generation of our family, the next generation of our employees and the next generation of our community, you make different decisions. It certainly is about how do we be good stewards for the next generation of our family, employees, community?"

He said the center helps family-owned, multigenerational businesses plan out their succession of ownership and how to engage, train and pass on their knowledge and deeply held values to the next generation.

But there's another goal, he said — one that's more important to Iowa as a whole. With the small towns of Iowa dwindling, he said, it's often the businesses with deeply rooted family ties that keep them on the map.

"That’s our purpose for existence. Local ownership brings a real benefit and difference to the Iowa economy," he said.

He noted a recent spate of mass layoffs among large corporate agricultural manufacturers in Iowa. With family businesses, he said, "Layoffs — that’s the last thing they want to do. They grow ownership for the good of the business. That local, active ownership that most family businesses bring to the table, it's critical to long-term sustainability.

"If you’re treating it like a cash cow … when you’re done, you don't care about what’s next for whomever it might be. But if you're running it for the family, the community, you’re running the business because your grandkids, your nephews also are going to be coming in and using it for their livelihood."

"The city of Pella would look a lot different without the two big companies they have there," he said, citing Pella Windows & Doors and its neighbor, ag and industrial equipment maker Vermeer — both examples of enduring ownership by families with strong ties to their community.

In his own town of Denver, north of Cedar Falls and Waterloo, family-owned Schumacher Elevator Co. is the big employer.

"The Schumacher family is such a big contributor to the quality of life in Denver, Iowa," he said, and noted others like the owners of Westendorf Manufacturing in Onawa and The Vernon Co. in Newton.

"They're critical to that economy," he said. "And when your family name is tied to that business, it's very different."

Noah's Ark restaurant, Des Moines: Trying to make it to 100

James Lacona III's name isn't on his business, but it's a memorable name nonetheless. It came about one rainy day when his grandfather, the biblically named founder of Noah's Ark Ristorante, the now-venerable Des Moines Italian restaurant, was on the roof of the original building.

The building was sort of a shack," Lacona said, and his grandfather was nailing down loose shingles to try to keep the rain from leaking in.

"Two customers come out, and they see him up there, and they say, 'Whatcha doing, Noah? Trying to build an ark?'" Lacona said.

His grandfather's influence remains so strong that Lacona swears he can see him standing next to him as he chats with customers some nights at Noah's Ark.

Family lore and his memories of his grandfather are a big part of why he fought to keep the business open, he said.

The conflict that nearly led to its closure came a few years back, not long after the death of his father, who had run the restaurant for 10 years. Then the COVID-19 pandemic set in, and one faction of the family, seeing the rapidly escalating value of the property on the Ingersoll Avenue strip and what seemed like the long odds against the survival of the business, tried to force Lacona to sell so they could all share in the proceeds.

After a court battle, the parties reached a settlement. Lacona agreed to buy the other shareholders out at market value — more than $1 million — and the restaurant is still operating.

Opened in 1946, and proud to claim to be the place that introduced Des Moines to pizza, Noah's Ark doesn't yet qualify for our century club. But Lacona, "25 going on 50," intends to be there when it does in 2046, 22 years from now.

How will the then-72 year old mark that moment?

"On a Saturday night, if you ask me, I would say I'm going to have a big party on the anniversary, and the next day I’m just going to lock the doors and retire," he said. "But most likely, I’ll just keep going."

He worked for several years in the family's construction company, out of the bustling restaurant, and said he considers that to have been his retirement.

"My long-term goal is, I’m just going to work and hopefully, it’s a really busy night and I’m going to drop while I’m working," he said. "Some people say, 'There's more to life than that.' And I say, 'No, no, that would be a great life for me.' I tell the employees, 'If it happens in the kitchen, just roll me aside and get the food out to the customers.'"

The real motivator, he acknowledged, is that he can't bear letting people down. He's had that experience. It's not a story he wants to tell on the record, but it was obviously soul-searing. It convinced him that if he ever did just take the money and walk away from the restaurant he, his father and grandfather built, it would mean he would have to leave Des Moines. He loves his hometown, he said, but he wouldn't be able to face all the disappointed people, day after day.

For him, it's a sacred responsibility.

"Not to dwell on a bad thought, but the morning after my dad passed, I walked into the restaurant, and everyone was looking at me wide-eyed," he said. "And you could just see fear of the unknown, the uncertainty, 'Oh, my God, what’s going to happen now?' And I promised everybody everything was going to be OK.

"How tempting it would be to be on a beach drinking pina coladas and never have to work again," he said. "But you make a promise, you keep a promise."

His grandfather's voice emerges once again.

"He used to tell me, 'A guy can go out there and make a living doing anything, and there’s nothing wrong with that,'" Lacona recalled. "'But if you can make a living helping others support their family, now you’re really doing something, buddy.'"

Will another Lacona be ready to take the helm when he's gone?

"I'm still trying to figure out line of succession," he said. "It doesn’t necessarily have to be one of my children. It could be somebody else. But I hope so."

Bill Steiden is the business and investigative editor at the Des Moines Register. Reach him at wsteiden@registermedia.com.

More Des Moines Register 175th anniversary coverage

Every day in July: Look for a featured front page from noteworthy moments in history.

Coming Monday: Nonprofit institutions that have helped shape Iowa society.

Next Sunday: The waves of immigration that have shaped Iowa’s history and what our future population might look like.

These 47 businesses are part of Iowa's century club

As part of its 175th birthday celebration, the Des Moines Register asked Iowa businesses that have been around for a century or more to share their own stories. Here's a list of the 47 that responded, plus their primary Iowa location (many have offices around the state). Read about what they do, their number of employees and a bit of their history, plus see photos provided by many of them, at desmoinesregister.com .

3E, Windsor Heights

Adams Funeral Home, Ames

Agnew & Soseman Insurance Agency, Holstein

Ahlers & Cooney P.C., Des Moines

ALMACO, Nevada

American Abstract & Title Co., Des Moines

ATURA Architecture, Clear Lake

Bankers Advertising Co., Iowa City

Bankers Trust, Des Moines

Boeke Funeral Homes, Hubbard

Carter Printing Co., Des Moines

CL Tel, Clear Lake

Community State Bank, Ankeny

Des Moines Marble and Mantel Co., Des Moines

Des Moines Stamp, Des Moines

EMC Insurance, Des Moines

Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. of Iowa, West Des Moines

FEH Design, Des Moines

Fillenwarth Beach Resort, Arnolds Park

Grinnell Mutual, Grinnell

Henkel Construction Co., Mason City

Hubbell Realty Co., West Des Moines

ILC Resources, Urbandale

IMT Insurance, West Des Moines

Josephs Jewelers, West Des Moines

Kintzinger, Harmon, Konrardy PLC, Dubuque

Kurtz Hardware, Des Moines

Landus, Des Moines

Lane & Waterman LLP, Davenport

LBS, Des Moines

MARSHALLTOWN, Marshalltown

McGregors Furniture & Mattress, Marshalltown

McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC, Des Moines

Merchants White Line Warehousing Inc., Altoona

Nelson Electric Co., Ames

Nyemaster Goode PC, Des Moines

Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Co., Algona

Principal Financial Group, Des Moines

Pritchard Family Auto Stores, Clear Lake

Prugh Funeral Service, Burlington

Russell Abstract & Title, Adel

Shive-Hattery, Cedar Rapids

The Vernon Co., Newton

Von Maur, Davenport

The Weitz Co., Des Moines

Wells Fargo & Co., West Des Moines

Woodford Lumber and Home Improvement, Clear Lake

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines Register at 175: Celebrating businesses with family ties that help Iowa endure