Company History

1936

Cooper Enterprises was formerly known as the Box Plant of the Friebel & Hartman Construction Company. It was founded in 1936 by Walter Friebel Sr. and Ray Hartman. The box plant made collapsible wood crates to ship fuel cells for the B-1 bomber.

Pictured: Employees of the Friebel & Hartman Construction Company celebrate at a company Christmas party in 1948.

1965

In 1965, Gerald Friebel (Walter’s son) and Dan Cooper (Walter’s son-in-law who was running the wood products division) created Cooper Enterprises. The name Cooper Enterprises was chosen to avoid confusion with the then existing Friebel & Hartman Construction Company. The new business would focus on wood product manufacturing.

Pictured: Owners Gerald Friebel and Dan Cooper discuss a project in 1965.

1989

In 1989, Gerald’s son Edward joined Cooper Enterprises and assumed responsibilities for manufacturing, engineering and maintenance. Two years later, Monty, another son, joined the business and was responsible for sales, purchasing and administration. In 1991, Cooper Enterprises had nine employees and operated on a one shift basis.

Monty and Edward purchased the business in 1998 and continue to manage Cooper Enterprises. During 1998, the facility size nearly doubled to 100,000 square feet and expanded to a multi-shift operation. This expansion provided the capacity to support investments in state-of-the-art CNC technologies.

2015

When Cooper Enterprises celebrated its 50-year anniversary, the business was 15 times larger than it was in 1991.

Today

Today, we operate in over 140,000 square feet with 100 employees and a large investment in equipment and technology. We are still growing as we strive for continuous improvement to help our customers compete in their ever-changing industries.