GRANT COUNTY

Enriches Experience

A Century of Iron in Marion

In 1923, a Marion man ran 11 foundries across three states. Atlas Foundry Company is the only one still owned by the founding family and still pouring iron in the county where the enterprise was directed. Drawing on local archives and a conversation with Jim and Bill Gartland, we trace how steady reinvestment, deliberate specialization, and a diversified customer base kept it here, and what that means for manufacturing retention in Grant County.

Read More
Manufacturing Executive Director Manufacturing Executive Director

The Plate, the Cabinet, and the Cake

Three Grant County factory floors, three unrelated products, and one shared constraint. A Business Retention and Expansion visit to Huhtamaki, American Woodmark, and Cafe Valley finds all three limited not by orders or equipment, but by people, and each answering that constraint in its own way.

Read More