DEE Inc. in Crookston is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. The current employees have over 1,000 years total at Dee.
DEE, Inc. started on July 26, 1971, the acronym DEE represents the first letter of the last names of the original partners Clark Dahlgren, Ken Erie and Earl Elllinger. The first President of DEE, Inc. was Earl Ellinger {Jim Ellinger’s dad). The product that DEE, Inc. was developing was the row finder for beet lifters. During this time Jim Ellinger was a schoolteacher and had a small foundry that he operated from his garage in rural Crookston the name of Jim’s company was Jimell. His first customers were Arctic Cat and Thermo King.
In 1973 Earl Ellinger filed for a patent for the row finder he filed the patent calling the device a “Depth Control for Farm Implement”. During this time DEE, Inc. was located on the Bud Ellinger farm. Ralph Pester, Lloyd Reitmeier and Bud Ellinger did the prototype testing of the row finder during the 1974 beet harvest it was successful.
In November 1975 Jim Ellinger sold his foundry business (Jimell) to DEE, Inc. and became the fourth partner in DEE, Inc. DEE, Inc. foundry remained at the Jimell location until June of 1976 when the present site was ready for foundry operations.
In May 1978 Jim Ellinger became the president of DEE, Inc.
In 1980 Jim Ellinger bought Clark Dahlgren’s and Ken Erie’s stock he also sold stock to Gary Jagoe. DEE, Inc purchased additional land and expanded the foundry by 10,000 sq. feet. The company also entered into a rental agreement for a machine shop.
In March 1982 Earl Ellinger sold his stock to Jim Ellinger.
In July 1982 ten additional stockholders joined Jim Ellinger and Gary Jagoe the ten new stockholders were: Morris Dickel, Larry Altringer, Dave Bang, Allan Dragseth, Lyle Brekken, Ken Erie, Marian Knudson, Charles Sylvester, Lyle Kiel and Clark Dahlgren.
In July 1986 DEE, Inc. purchased the Coca-Cola building on 320 5th Ave. South and converted the building into the present-day machine shop.
In July 1988 Jim and Gary purchased the stock of the additional stockholders. They would be shareholders of DEE, Inc. from 1987 until 2010.
In late 2009 Jim and Gary decided to sell shares of stock to Paul Cwikla, Chuck Henre and Nick Nicholas. Jim died in July 2010 and his stock was sold to the four remaining partners. In July 2012 Gary Jagoe sold his stock to the three remaining shareholders.
DEE, Inc. has been a high-quality Foundry and Machine Shop from day one. From 1971 into the mid 80’s DEE, Inc. spent time developing the row finder and operating the foundry and machining operations. During that time Jim Ellinger determined that there was a limited market for the row finders and sold the patent and focused on growing the foundry and machining sectors. Artic Cat and Polaris was the customer focus when both companies were in the watercraft business. DEE, Inc did a major expansion in 1995/96 it expanded the foundry to 75,000 sq. ft. and the machine shop to 25,000 square feet.
In 1999 DEE, Inc. management decided to expand into the heavy truck market. In order to do this DEE, Inc. certified to ISO9001 and QS9000 standards. This certification allowed us to quote contracts with Detroit Diesel, Cummins Diesel, Rolls Royce, and Mercedes Benz. The certification requirements changed since the late 90’s today we are certified to IATF16949.
As employees and owners, Dee Inc. appreciates and is forever grateful for the vision Jim Ellinger had when he started a foundry business in his garage and had a dream of where DEE, Inc. could be in 50 years.
Dee Inc. also wants their employees to know that they consider them to be the biggest asset of DEE, Inc. and are appreciated for their hard work and dedication to the company. The photographs below are the core of DEE, Inc. this group only number 62 but have a total of 1,036 years of employment with the company.
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