It may be hard to see it now, but Central Illinois needs more entrepreneurs like Dwight Rohn, the man who created the manufacturing business that still bears his name.
Rohn, who died last month, started making radio and television towers nearly 50 years ago, in the days of TV rabbit ears and AM radio. The company adjusted with the times and the technology, growing to some 900 workers at four plants. In recent years, it was the market leader in the construction and fabrication of cellular phone towers and infrastructure. Just two years ago it spent $10 million to expand its Plank Road plant. Three hundred worked there.
Then sales disappeared. Debt mounted. Bankruptcy neared. The Peoria plant will close in the next couple of months, putting the remaining manufacturing employees out of work, though its headquarters will stay here.
ROHN executives blame the collapse of the telecommunications industry, which killed off customers as well as competitors. Sources close to the founding family blame the out-of-town owners who took control six years ago for hitching the business almost entirely to telecom rather than diversifying. The company hopes to survive by consolidating operations in Frankfort, Ind.
Any time a community loses a major manufacturer is cause for worry, given that they usually pay good wages, buy from suppliers that also hire people and keep property tax revenue coming into local government treasuries. But the expected loss of ROHN is particularly upsetting because just two years ago it had been a star. Telephone towers in the communications age? Lucky us.
Unfortunately, central Illinois has seen this pattern before. Businesses that were born or nurtured here - International Harvester, Pabst, Hiram Walker and, more recently, Foster & Gallagher - are but a memory. It is clear we can’t count on their lasting forever.
Still, a community is often only as good as its entrepreneurs and the businesses they start. Maui Jim, sunglass maker; L.R. Nelson, sprinkler manufacturer; Advanced Technology Services, technology services provider; and CGN, software engineers, are among those that have done well here in recent years. We need more, especially in times like these.