Our History

Herrgott Industries played a large role in the St. Clements community for many years and there is a lot of history when it comes to the building in which they work.  Starting as a hotel in the 1850's, becoming a thresher business during the 1930's and now a manufacturing company of pallets and crates. 

The Beginning

EARLY 1850's

The first part of their building, which is now currently the Herrgott office, was very likely that first hotel in St. Clements during the 1850’s. The original hotel had a stable for the horses and cattle, rooms for travellers and featured a dining room where home-cooked meals were served.

Adjoining the hotel was a butcher shop and an ice-house where they stored huge quantities of ice to help keep food cold during the hot, summer months. There was also a well and large pump where the public could get water and a weigh scale out front where a drover or farmer could weigh his cattle as they drove them through town.

Over the years, more buildings were added onto the hotel and butcher shop, one in particular being constructed of cement block during the 1930’s. These blocks were of a unique design, having a raised face instead of being flat. There were thousands of blocks needed and they were all made one at a time. The solid building standing there at this present time is a testimony to the quality of the workmanship that went into building those blocks.

The Start of Herrgott Industries Ltd.

EARLY 1930's

Henry Herrgott and his brother Jake built the Mildmay Thresher business in Mildmay that was sold in the early 1930’s. They moved to the United States for a few short years until the economy went bad and returned home to Canada.

Henry worked with his brother-in-law, Henry Dietrich, out on a farm and as they prospered, moved to the community of St. Clements. Henry’s son, Edward (Ed) took over the Threshing Machine business until 1970, when Ed’s son Tom took it over from him. (Back in the 1930/1940’s, the threshing machine business was was big business, no combines yet).

A local man named Noah S. Martin from Hawsville helped to build the business and get into production a foundry so that Herrgott could make their own castings. Noah also worked for Onias Weber in Hawkesville at the time, who had a foundry as well. Onias made the parts for Herrgott for the grain throwers, but the Herrgott name was right in the castings, while the grain-throwers that Onias sold as his own were called the “Marvel”.

The threshing machines needed grain-thrower pipes. Herrgott rolled theirs, but it was tough to get the finished roll off the roller, since they did not have a roller that open-ended to let the work-piece out. Old Simeon Bauman, who worked for Onias Weber built a brake press that they used to make the pipes. Herrgott bought pipes from Onias from likely the early 1950’s. Onions stopped making grain throwers in about 1952, while Herrgott Industries kept making threshing machines until about 1966. Herrgott also got Onias Weber to make silo pipes on this same brake press that Simeon Bauman had built.

Onias Weber sold his business in 1968 and the new owners made some advancements to the brake press. Tom Herrgott purchased the brake press in the 1970’s and continued to make silo pipes. After Toms passing, Herrgott Industries sold the silo pipe business off to a local company.