Basement Waterproofing Le Mars, IA

Le Mars was platted in 1869, but no lots were sold until the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company showed up in 1879. Based on town legend, CNW entrepreneur John I. Blair and a band of women reached the town which was then called St. Paul Junction. The women ended up being asked to name the town and they provided their own first name initials for Lucy Underhill, Elizabeth Parson, Mary Weare, Anna Blair, Rebecca Smith and Sarah Reynolds.

In 1885, Frederick Brooke Close, a young Englishman who had passed up going to Cambridge University to move to Iowa, started the Northwestern Polo League in Le Mars.

In 1913, Fred H. Wells opened up a milk route in Le Mars. By 1925, his sons and he opened up an ice cream manufacturing facility in Le Mars. It was bought by Fairmount Ice Cream in 1928. In 1935, Fred and his sons wanted to start selling ice cream once again, but could not really use their name. They sponsored a “Name That Ice Cream” competition within the Sioux City Journal. The winner of the $25 prize proposed Blue Bunny simply because his son had enjoyed seeing blue bunnies in department store windows at Easter.

The Wells were ultimately to get back their name after Blue Bunny shot to popularity. However, it continued to be mostly a regional ice cream until 1992, when it started an intense program to expand across the country.

The centerpiece of the growth is a 900,000-square-foot plant with a 12-story tall refrigeration plant known as the “South Ice Cream Plant” since it is on the south side of town. The plant employs 1,000 and produces 75 million gallons of frozen goodies, with the milk coming primarily from three huge dairy farms in Iowa.

The plant has resulted in the claims the company is the world’s biggest family-owned and managed dairy processor and the world’s biggest producer of ice cream in one area, and with Le Mars claiming to be the “Ice Cream Capital of the World”.

Wells also provides ice brands marketed by Häagen-Dazs, Baskin-Robbins, General Mills and also General Foods in Le Mars.