Penzel Construction: 105 Years Strong
Launched in 1910, Penzel Construction has grown from a small general contracting company into one of Southeast Missouri’s most experienced and respected providers of construction services.
Delving into our archives reveals the following events:
Proficient in his trade, with carpentry roots dating back to the 16th century, Johan Penzel arrived from Germany in 1853. Johan’s skills in carpentry and cabinetmaking were passed along to his son, Gustav, and his grandson, Linus. Linus began building houses and other structures in the Jackson area in 1910, and thus Penzel Construction was born. Five years later, in 1915, he expanded his venture to also include bridge building. Linus recognized that if a business is built on trust, success is uncomplicated, and he referred to his clients as “respected friends.”
Following in the family footsteps, Linus’ son Carl joined the company in 1930, and in 1937, father and son formed the partnership known as Penzel Construction Company. Some notable early construction projects were the Jackson High School in 1920, Jackson Shoe Factory in 1922, eight highway bridges in 1936 and the first completely architectural concrete building in SEMO in 1937. That building, the Marquette Natatorium, is still in use today.
In 1954, Linus passed the company on to Carl, confident that his business fundamentals would remain the foundation of the business. Penzel Construction Company, Inc. was formed in December 1958, with the stockholders being Carl, his wife, Mettie, their son, Gene, and their daughter, Carol Jane Ellington.
Continuing ancestral traditions, Gene joined the company full-time in 1959 after serving as a flight instructor in the United States Navy. Focusing more on industrial, heavy and highway construction projects, Penzel was very active throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and performed most of the bridge, culvert and paved ditch work on Interstate 55 from the Arkansas/Missouri state line to Bloomsdale, Missouri. Prominent building construction projects during this time included the Hirsch Building in Cape Girardeau (1961), the original Lee Rowan building (now Rubbermaid), the Jackson Shoe Factory (1964), the Cape Supply Company building (1965), the KFVS Television building in downtown Cape Girardeau (1967), the Florsheim Shoe Company building (1969), and Chateau Girardeau (1979).
In 1971, Penzel built the Missouri approach to the Mississippi River Bridge at Caruthersville, Missouri, and Dyersburg, Tennessee. Gene served as president of Associated General Contractors of Missouri in 1980, and in 1981 he became president of Penzel Construction Company, Inc. As the company continued to provide quality work and exceptional service, Penzel received the Construction Professional Development Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers in January 1984.
Gene Penzel (right) with his son Phil Penzel. It would be a few more years before Phil would join the Penzel Construction team!
Extending the pedigree yet another generation, Gene’s son, Phil, joined the company full-time in 1987 after earning a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Missouri-Rolla. In October of the following year, Penzel Construction became a registered engineering firm. Phil became a registered civil engineer in 1992 and served as president of the Southeast Chapter of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers in 1993-1994. He replaced his father in 1996 as president of Penzel Construction Company, Inc. and continues to guide the company along a deliberate path true to his great grandfather’s values of quality, honesty and hard work.
Penzel won the Mississippi Valley Family Business of the Year Award in 1996, an honor based on proven business successes, positive family/business linkage, multi-generational and family business involvement, contribution to industry and community, and innovative business practices or strategies. An abridged resume of projects includes more than a dozen projects for Bank of Missouri, the Missouri Veterans Home (1990), the Lutheran Home for the Aged - Residential Care facility (1996), Lynwood Baptist Church (1998) and St. Paul Lutheran Church’s school and church addition (1999). More recent projects include The Osage Centre and Cape Splash Family Aquatic Center (2010), Mondi Jackson (2012), Sikeston Department of Public Safety Building (2013), Liberty Utilities Headquarters (2014) and Do It Best Center (2014). Visit our projects page for more in-depth information.
Success was by design; more than a century in business doesn’t happen often and only comes with hard work, dedication and loyalty to customers. During these past decades Penzel has continued to be recognized for its integrity in dealing with its valued customers, employees, subcontractors and suppliers.
Penzel Construction can trace the family’s carpentry and construction roots back at least nine generations. Each generation has maintained and improved on a distinguished reputation. We have the highest ethical standards in the industry because Linus’ heirs have never strayed from that uncomplicated formula for success.
As we look back and celebrate Penzel’s first century, we appreciate that our founder’s values endure and Penzel’s clients remain “our valued friends.”
