Meyersdale Area Will Benefit From New Tank Industry

   The Meyersdale area, thanks to the ingenuity and desires of two local businessmen, is getting a new industry.
   The two local men are Harold J. Miller and J. Gene Lauver, both of whom have been involved in businesses similar to the industry which they are starting.
   Henry J. Beamer, chairman of the Somerset County Development Authority, made the announcement of the new industry Tuesday morning.

Four Involved
   He said that the Four Guys Stainless Steel Tank and Equipment, Inc. will start operations on a 10-acre tract in the Somerset County Industrial Park No. 4 at Meyersdale. That's the industrial park south of the Acme along Route 219 a mile from Meyersdale.
   The company will be headed by Mr. Miller as President. Mr. Lauver will serve as secretary and treasurer. The other two men involved in the new enterprise are Richard Kirsch, vice president of Fon du Lac, Wisconsin, Manufacturing and Engineering Co. and Harry E. Gourley, Jr., of Northumberland, vice president of sales.

A New Building
   The firm will begin operating just as soon as a new building can be constructed. Ground for the building has already been broken and some drainage ditches dug and some initial work done.
   The Somerset county Development Authority has received approval of a $339,000 revenue mortgage loan from the Pa. Department of Commerce.
   The financing was arranged through the First National Bank of Somerset County and the Citizen's National Bank of Bank of Meyersdale, the Philson National Bank of Berlin, the Somerset Trust Company and the Peoples Bank and Trust Company of Jennerstown.

Architects Hired
   In his announcement, Mr. Beamer stated that Ross, Cramer and Pawlowski, architects of Somerset have been retained to do the architectural work and Somerset Steel and Erection Co. will supply and erect a 10,000 square foot steel building.
   When the firm begins operation-and this is expected to be about November 1 of this year-approximately 10 employees will be employed, in addition to the proprietors. The employment will reach 40 to 50 men within a period of two years.
   In the beginning, the firm will repair and rebuild over the road stainless steel tankers. As rapidly as can be done, they will be producing stainless steel products, eventually producing the tankers themselves.

Negotiated 6 Months
   This industrial project has been under negotiation for more than six months by the Somerset County Development Council and the Somerset County Development Authority. It is one of many such projects which the two agencies have collaborated on successfully to bring industry to Somerset County, which in turn, have created hundreds of new jobs. Mr. Miller purchased the milk transport business of Menno Yoder a number of years ago. His trucks hauled the mild of Queen City Dairy Coop here. Mr. Lauver served as manager of the local Queen City Dairy facility until it discontinued local operation recently, and was the successor of his father, the late Owen Lauver, who ran the diary for years.

Active Citizens
   Both men have been active in the community, Mr. Lauver presently being a member of the Meyersdale Area School Board. Both men have a rich experience in the dairy and milk transport industry.

   This is the first development at the industrial park south of Meyersdale since the land was purchased some years ago through the efforts of the Somerset County Development council. It is good news for the people of Meyersdale, who have waited for the park to be developed with industries that will provide jobs and additional payrolls for the south county area.
   Meyersdale residents are pleased that two local men have decided to start their industrial operation, rather than moving elsewhere to develop their product.
   Work on the facility is expected to go forward rapidly, so that it can be opened prior to the onset of winter.