Driving along South 25th Street, you may or may not notice Reynolds & Co. No large lighted sign or massive facade is visible, but this is an understatement to its steady contribution in the local economy for the past 63 years.

Founded in 1946 by the late Stephen Gruesing Reynolds, the company has been led by his son Jerry since 1975. Reynolds remains a family company with Jerry’s wife Jean working in the business just as Stephen’s wife Lucille did in their time.

Typical of family businesses, Jerry started working part time on Saturdays, holidays and summers while in high school, and full time after graduation from Indiana State University and a stint in the U.S. Army.

The first shop was at 100 Swan St., and then the business was moved to 214 S. Third St. It has been at its present 1916 S. 25th St. location since the early 1950s. Kevin Collenbaugh is the plant manager and Ben Thomson is the project engineer.

A second location with larger equipment was opened in 2004 at 1025 N. Fruitridge Ave. Tom Albright is the plant manager at this site.

“Today, business as usual means taking a phone call from a desperate maintenance supervisor and solving a problem before the end of the day. That is one of the biggest changes since the business began. Time is more important now,” Jerry explained.

“Originally, the work centered exclusively around repair of valves and hydraulics, but it changed to machine work and repair around 1954. The main focus now centers around the packaging, foods, and aerospace industries and job shop endeavors. About three-fourths of our customers are located in the Wabash Valley. Out-of-town orders come from food giants such as General Mills, Kellogg and Hershey as well as one plant in Germany.”

Reynolds & Co. has grown from a one-man shop to 26 employees, and it has not reduced the staff even though the economy has slowed down and manufacturing methods have changed.

Jerry said, “Ninety percent of the work is now computerized or automatic, thus speeding production — sometimes four times as fast as 50 years ago and giving us the capacity to make some products we couldn’t have made at all in the past. We have managed to keep a fairly steady flow of business, but have shortened our work hours somewhat. Overtime now is almost non-existent. “We keep a strong relationship with Indiana State University and have had numerous co-op students from the College of Technology. It is a win-win situation for us and for the students to work in the industry while they are going to school.”

Jerry has not considered leaving the Wabash Valley; his roots are too deep. His great-grandfather Steve Reynolds, a masonry contractor, arrived in Terre Haute in the early 1900s.

Another positive community factor is the camaraderie among machine shops in the area. Jerry pointed out that it was the late Ken Hazledine who helped his dad move from Swan Street to Third Street many years ago. And in turn, Jerry’s dad helped A.P. Machine & Tool get started in 1966. A.P. co-managers Thierry and Marc Ponsot told this story in a 2001 interview: “The amazing thing is that Steve Reynolds of Reynolds & Co. gave our dad his first machine and work to get him started. We have never forgotten.”

Perhaps this is yet one more reason that makes “Terre Haute — A Level Above.”

Other articles by Dorothy Jerse

• Conservatory of Music - November 1st, 2009