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Beginnings
• An ambitious 23-year-old Fred Neth, Sr. borrowed $800 in 1937 to
open a small shop, Columbia Forge and Machine Works
• Columbia started repairing primitive concrete block machines
among a variety of other jobs
• Fred decided early on that Columbia could design and build a better
concrete products machine
• In 1945, Columbia pioneered and built a hydraulically operated
machine - an industry first
• Due to the precision and quality of blocks these machines would
produce Columbia block machines were accepted with widereaching
enthusiasm, worldwide