The Construction Source America

Morton Buildings | 9 terlocking Fence Company Catalog from back in the 1920s. Nyberg credits the ad- vancement of post frame construction to resource realities prompted by World War II. To spare impact on resources such as limber and other goods, the government imposed dollar limits on how much farm- ers could spend on construction. To save resources, he says someone likely got the idea that poles could be used to hold up trusses and framing could be put around it. The farmer could get the building he needed and control costs too. In that era, Henry Getz resolved to expand company operations in the building niche. From a start in corn cribs, Interlocking Fence expanded into the “pole barn” as a major aspect of the operations. Over a number of years that followed, customers would contract to have a Morton-style building from Interlocking Fence Company. Oper- ations ultimately transitioned to focus on construction, thus leading to recognition of the company simply as Morton Build- ing. Nyberg says Henry Getz, now 93 years in age, continues to visit the office almost every afternoon. Though the family-friendly focus and values of customer-service-commitment have not changed with the changing of years, the company’s market reach has remarkably grown beyond the early farm infrastructure for which this company be- came famous. Nyberg has a theory as to how that may have been accomplished. “I think a farmer may have gone to church gathering on a Sunday and heard some- one talk about how the church needed a new building, but wasn’t sure how to go about building it or getting the money to build it. He might have considered his own machine shed and said, ‘I could fit three hundred people in my shed if we need to,’ and one thing led to the next.” Morton Building has, in fact, construct-