MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS

 until World War I. While in the service John’s brother-in-law moved  on the Gast farm. When John returned from the service in 1919, he assisted in the completion of a barn for August Trittien. 

Later he and the Kramer Brothers built many homes in Steamboat Rock. One, was built for Dirk Christians and stands on Main Street. When it was built in 1918, it was the most expensive house built up to that time at a cost of $18,000. Shortly after that George built a more expensive brick home for Charlie Sentman at 309 4th Street. This home carried a price tag of $22,000. Others the team built were for John Eilers, and Dick DeVries. They also constructed barns and did other projects in the area. 

In 1923, George Kramer moved to a farm of his own, and devoted his full time to the farm. 

Lambert and John formed a team and for a few years they operated primarily in the Ackley area. 

In 1927 John moved his family into Steamboat Rock and decided to form his own construction business. 

Since the depression of the 30’s was now being felt in the Midwest Pete Sterns hired John to do work on all of his farms. At that time, nails were pulled from boards, straightened and reserved for reuse. Pay for work during the depression often amounted to a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk or something of use in the home. 

After the depression John constructed the Albert Leverton house using native lumber from the Leverton timber. The Leverton men sawed the lumber, 2 x 4, planks or whatever was needed. Mostly oak was utilized, but walnut was also used and the doors were of cherry. Every part of the work was done by hand. The basement was dug by hand, the cement was mixed by hand in a trough. For bigger jobs a little mixer with a gasoline engine was used. The windows and door frames were also milled by hand. Pay amounted to 24 cents an hour. 

Around Steamboat Rock, John built a home for Carl Sentman, Harry Luiken, Tony Luiken, Pete Luiken Lizzie Senten, Henry Primus, Webb Folkerts, and Merle Johns. He moved and remodeled Rena Hoffman’s home and remodeled Kate Pruisner’s home as well. 

John also built the Berlin Church. 

Through the years the business became Gast and Sons. They learned to climb a ladder almost as soon as they learned to walk. Roger was approximately 12 years old when he assisted his father in building a barn for Lee Hayden. Maurice followed suit. Son Charles found his field as a salesman. All three boys served in World War II. 

John laid down his hammer in 1968–eight years after he had been warned to do so. He had 51 years of carpentry to his credit. 

In the 1920’s, a builder by the name of Meyer, from Ackley built a number of homes in Steamboat Rock. In 1929, Mr. Meyers built the Baptist Parsonage, a two story brick home, for a price of $7,000 keeping in mind that a great deal of volunteer work from the church members helped keep the cost down. 

Meyers also built the home of Dr. J. W. Caldwell, on Main Street, considered quite a mansion for Steamboat Rock 

In 1937 Bert Penelrick was in the construction business here. He built a corn crib for Rex Folkerts at an hourly wage of forty cents an hour. His son worked for ten cents an hour or a dollar a day. 

In October 1939, the Cervetti’s (Joe, Lillian, Joan and Frank) moved to Steamboat Rock from Grundy county. Their history may not go back as far as some of the long time Steamboat Rock residents, but they were the first and only Italians to settle here. 

Joe worked in construction in Wellsburg, and moved to Steamboat Rock to go on his own. His very first job in town was a house remodeling job for Tom Ruppelt, and he was assisted by Tom’s son Robert. At the time the rate was 50 cents an hour, and they worked ten hour days. 

The first new house that Joe built was for Marvin Jeske, near New Providence in 1940. Over the years Joe and his company did many remodeling jobs, cabinet jobs and built countless homes. 

Later the company moved toward construction of institutional, commercial and religious buildings. Jobs that started Joe in this direction included the construction of the locker for Leo Knight in 1944, the extensive remodeling of the Presbyterian Church in 1946 and the addition to the Steamboat Rock School in 1955. Since then there have been many churches, schools, service stations, fire stations, dental clinics, motels, restaurants, doctor offices, banks, bowling alleys, office buildings, stores and others all within a 60 mile radius of Steamboat Rock. 

Many structures that Joe and his company later built were designed and planned by his son Frank who became an architect and engineer, with an office in Marshalltown. 

Joe took up an interesting and unusual hobby in 1951, when he made two violins. His father had told him many years before that his grandfather had been a violin maker in Italy. His father however had no knowledge of the technique. Joe needed a good teacher and found one in the late John Noble. He spent many hours teaching Joe how to select, cut and finish the wood, even down to making some of the tools. 

Joe later repaired violins as well. 

Harry Folkerts and William (Bill) Eckel began working for then Joe Cervetti’s construction company in the late 1940’s. They continued in Cervetti’s employ for a couple of years and then decided to form a partnership and go into business for themselves. 

This was the beginning of Folkerts and Eckel Construction. The partnership continued until 1969. During their years in business, they built a wide range of buildings including homes, farm buildings, and telephone buildings. In addition they did remodeling work, shingling, and concrete work. Their construction business entailed all phases of construction from foundation to roof and finishing work. 

Homes that Folkerts and Eckel constructed in Steamboat Rock, include one’s they constructed for Albert Zimmerman, Rex Folkerts, L.G. Johnson, Marie Eilers, Hollis Havens, and Harry’s own home at 202 Madison. 

In the last six years in business they made the transition from building homes and such to building churches. In this period they built churches and added major additions to churches in Garwin, Cedar Rapids, Parkersburg, and Ackley, Iowa as well as Sioux Falls, South Dakota to mention a few.