Penzel Construction marks 100 years of business

For four generations and 100 years, Penzel Construction Co. of Jackson has been building up Southeast Missouri.

The company has invited about 350 of its past and present clients, retired and current employees and subcontractors to celebrate tonight during an anniversary banquet at The Venue.

Through the years, Penzel has built schools, churches, factories and done a substantial amount of road and bridge work for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Penzel built many area landmark structures, including the original Jackson High School, International Shoe Factory, Marquette Natatorium and the KFVS12 tower. More recently, Penzel constructed Jackson High School's 2006 addition and events center, the Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse; and Cape Splash Family Aquatic Center.

With help from a media production company, current president and CEO Phil Penzel put together a video on the history of his family and its business that will be shown at the banquet.

"I'm constantly doing research. Every time I find a new nibble, it's an exciting thing," he said. "My family never threw anything away."

Johann "John" Penzel, great-great-grandfather of Phil Penzel, came to Jackson from Germany in 1854. He and his son, Gustav, got their start by building barns in the Jackson area. Gustav Penzel also built several buildings in uptown Jackson. Gustav's son, Linus, began doing carpentry work in St. Louis, Kansas, Colorado and Texas. Linus moved back to Jackson and started a construction business with his son, Carl, on March 31, 1910. It later became Penzel Construction Co.

"When Linus started his company, they pretty much operated out of his home and his office was the kitchen table," Phil Penzel said.

They later opened an office above what is now Tractor's restaurant.

Carl Penzel's son, Carl Gene Penzel, started working in the family business at age 15. After earning a civil engineering degree at the University of Missouri-Rolla and becoming a naval aviator, he joined the company full time in 1959.

The greatest construction expansion in U.S. history was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Phil Penzel said, and his company enjoyed its share. But since 2008, like many other construction companies, it has struggled through the recession and slow recovery.

"I'm a member of a national network of about 4,500 contractors," he said. "Every single one of them is suffering the pain. There's been a lot of people go out of business. This is probably the worst that I've experienced. The '80s were pretty bad, but I think this is worse."

The secret to surviving tough economic times is being diversified, he said.

The company is working its way through a 15-bridge contract with five bridges left to complete as part of a Missouri Department of Transportation project to replace 530 bridges statewide.

Every generation of the Penzel family has had its challenges, Phil Penzel said.

"For Linus, our founder and my great-grandpa, he had to contend with the Great Depression, World War I and World War II. How much more can a person endure?" Phil Penzel said. "It's a wonder that we could make it to that second generation. My grandfather experienced better expansion times. He got in on the Eisenhower highway program and the Works Progress Administration. My dad experienced the energy crisis of the 1970s, and there was a cement shortage in the late '70s. Who could forget the high interest rates in the early '80s?"

Phil Penzel, who just like his father earned a civil engineering degree from the University of Missouri-Rolla, joined the company full time in 1987.

He became company president in 1996 and led the company through a decade of growth and expansion inspired by his father, grandfather and great-grandfather before him.

"I don't have any future generations," he said. "My youngest daughter wants to be a physical therapist, my oldest daughter wants to be in the music industry and live in Nashville, but I don't think either one of them has ambitions to be back in the area."

Few businesses survive 100 years, and family businesses usually don't make it past the second generation, said Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner, who will host tonight's anniversary banquet.

"It is unbelievable that somebody can stay in business for 100 years, and Penzel has done it," Mehner said. "They are a real asset to our business community."

Phil Penzel said he's doubtful businesses starting in today's business climate will be able to survive as long as his family's has.

"If someone would start today, the business environment we have to work in will not allow you to reach 100 years again," Penzel said. "If you're already here, you'll learn enough that you might survive. You're going to see a sharp decrease in the ability to do that."

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

325 W. Jackson Blvd., Jackson, MO