Jensen Well Co history

In 1905, Thorvald George (T.G.) Jensen, at the age of 30 started Kimballton Construction in Kimballton, Iowa after working in the trade for a number of years.

In 1909 the Minnesota hardware company, Marshall Wells, hired the Minnesota native and Spokane resident Albert Held to design their Spokane warehouse.

Today the company employs 350 people, works in 10 states and firmly believes in the family business just as T.G. did when he started the company in 1912.

In the 1920’s he expanded his construction and concrete business of decorative columns, blocks, circular tiles and culverts into bridge building and the company began to see much success.

Starting with T.G. Jensen in 1924 giving back to the community by building a swimming pool and thus the tradition has continued.

The oldest, Erling Jensen, was the first to join, and began to keep the company books in 1928.

In 1932, at the age of 58, T.G. retired from managing the day-to-day operations of his company to become active in Iowa politics.

T.G.’s third son joined the company in the early 1940’s and then world changes prompted Jensen to diversify again following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Evald’s oldest daughter, Sandra, attended Grand View College in 1955 and met a young man from South Dakota named James Rasmussen.

The warehouse was sold to the Jensen-Byrd Company in 1958, in which Jensen-Byrd bought Marshall Wells Hardware Co.’s western holdings.

Their first son, Scott, had been born in Chicago in 1961 and two more boys would join the family in the mid-sixties: Kurt and Jeff.

The largest one included the I-235 Des Moines River Bridge. It was the first million-dollar bridge built by Jensen Construction and was contracted for just over $1.4 million in 1962.

Unfortunately Evald passed away at the age of 52 in 1963.

Yadkin Well Company has been servicing the Yadkin Valley and the surrounding areas since 1964 in order to help our neighbors have the highest-quality water when they need it.

Jensen also set up a new office in Tulsa, OK in 1976 to meet the construction needs in the southern states.

More help was needed in Iowa to work on projects so Jim Rasmussen asked Dan Timmons, who was a project manager and estimator in Tulsa, to relocate to Des Moines in 1992 to lead Jensen Road Company.

In 1995, Erling Jensen passed away at the age of 89.

The new millennium also brought sad news as Jim Rasmussen was diagnosed with cancer in 2000.

In 2008, Grand View College named the Rasmussen Center for Community Advancement Professions in honor of Jim and Sandra.

The $92.9 million Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge in Texas, which opened in 2009.