It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the anniversary of our 70th year. From our modest roots, Anchor Iron has grown to the respected family business it is today. For a look back, here’s the origin story from the son of the company’s founder.
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My father, R.G. (Bob) Roberts, had many jobs to support the family over the years — from gas station attendant to Brinks Security Guard — but he had a strong desire to start his own business. He started by picking up peoples’ trash and disposing of it for them. In doing this, he noticed clothes poles in yards that were leaning into each other from years of the weight of wet clothes on the lines. He stopped and offered to dig up the poles and reset them straight in concrete. This led to the idea of buying new clothes poles from a local company and installing them, and this led to installing poles full time — for as little as $10.50 you got 2 poles, installed straight in concrete. In 1953 he named his new company Anchor Sales Company.

To augment his income, Bob accepted an offer from a South Minneapolis company to install custom railings for them that they were ordering from Ohio. The company making Anchor’s clothes poles thought this was a great idea and started making railing themselves, and hiring Bob to sell, measure and install them. This led to Bob fabricating some of the more basic railings himself in his barn in Bloomington and eventually, in 1960, building a shop in Savage, MN. Now selling, fabricating and installing his own custom railings, he changed the name to Anchor Iron Company which still continues to serve homeowners and businesses of the Twin Cities.

Bob Roberts was a self made man and a true American success story of imagination and hard work, and after 70 years of quality, and four generations of the Roberts family, is going stronger than ever today.

45 YEARS AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR

Anchor Iron has been a fixture at the Minnesota State Fair since 1977, from our location in the area of the Fair now known as West End Market; but our products have been at the Fair since 1975. Let me explain …

This area in the NW part of the Fair grounds was originally constructed in 1964 as the “Young American Center,” a mid-20th century attempt to make the fair relevant to the burgeoning teen market. (The name soon contracted to simply “Young America.”) It featured a main stage where national touring bands and prominent local bands played, plus two smaller stages for more bands. Vendor offerings leaned toward “hippie craft” of beads, headbands, fringed leather vests, funky hats and so forth.

In 1975, with youth culture waning and America’s Bicentennial on the horizon, the Fair converted this area to “Heritage Square” with vendor offerings and architecture following a turn-of-the-century vintage vibe. One enterprising gentleman with a State Fair vendor’s license in his pocket saw a fit for our style of cast iron and metal crafted gift items in the new Square, so he bought an assortment of our merchandise and resold it from his booth in Heritage Square. After two years and the passing of the Bicentennial he offered the space to us, we said yes, and Anchor Iron has been a proud presence at the State Fair ever since.

In 2014 Heritage Square gave way to the $15 million revamp (and last piece of the Fair’s 16 year, $140 million master upgrade plan) called West End Market. This major renovation incorporated a main transit hub and transformed the Fair’s “back door” into a major entrance. Our new booth is in a great location and our days at the Fair have never been more fun. Our family’s participation in the Great Minnesota Get-together is a proud tradition.

After 45 years at the State Fair, this year became a special one when a WCCO News Director stopped by our booth. They were doing a segment on State Fair vendors and she invited us to come to their booth the next day, display some of our items, and talk about Anchor Iron with news anchor Amelia Santaniello. It was fun to do and great to be recognized Here’s a link to that segment.

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[MN State Fair history notes per Jerry Hammer, long-time Executive Vice President & General Manager of the Minnesota State Fair (https://carnivalwarehouse.com/newsserver/659), and personal recollection.]

RECONSTRUCT vs. REFURBISH

Refurbishment of ironwork by a skilled, qualified shop is usually more cost-effective than designing and constructing a new railing, but there can be other reasons to keep the old over the new. One of those reasons is to preserve designs that are unique and nearly impossible to replace. Like the restoration of artwork or a rare antique, you keep the original work and bring it back to life, rather than make a copy and scrap the original.

Anchor Iron recently did a complete refurbishment and reinstallation on a pair of small, decorative porch railings. We estimated these railings to be about 50 years old, with a classic S-scroll design, a unique upswept tail on the handrail, and a double scroll descender down the steps.

In the before photos here, you see a railing displaying years of wire brush scrape-and-paint maintenance followed by neglect. The only two options are total refurbishment, or total replacement. We removed the railings, had them sand-blasted and re-painted, and reinstalled them with new hardware - literally “as good as new.” Durability is one of the advantages of good ironwork, that it can be fully restored and remain as strong and beautiful as the day it was made.

This project is a good example of going with “refurbish” over “replace.” These small railings are beautiful and unique. To design and build an exact replica would cost considerably more than the refurbishment, and I don’t think it would be as satisfying.

ANCHOR IRON at WOODSIDE CEMETERY

Anchor Iron, Co. recently had the honor of participating in an act of historical significance and community pride with the design, fabrication and installation of an entrance archway identifying the 150-year-old Woodside Cemetery in Shorewood, MN. The large metal arch and sign, installed November 26, 2015, was commissioned and donated by Chanhassen resident Elaine Dunn, who entrusted Anchor Iron with carrying out her vision.

Ms. Dunn’s husband was buried at Woodside Cemetery five years ago, and she had found in her own experience that the cemetery was very difficult to find—especially for out-of-town visitors coming in for a funeral. Both Elaine and her son, Kelly, are also members of the Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society and have a strong interest in genealogy and local history.

“This is one of the most historical sites in Shorewood,” said Kelly Dunn. “There are a lot of connections with Woodside from a lot of people in the Shorewood area.”

This history was another reason Elaine donated the sign, so Woodside could be formally identified as a historical site in the community.

We’re very proud to have been chosen for this project. You can read the whole story with a photo of the Dunn family here: SUNSailor article

ANCHOR IRON at ANDERSEN HOUSE

When Andersen Windows & Doors in Bayport, MN wanted to create a showcase for their products, they decided to renovate a house on their campus into a meeting/conference space. The result was Anderson House. Anchor Iron was contracted to manufacture and install the patio railings for builder Moser Homes, from a design by Sala Architects.

The Anderson House patio overlooks the beautiful St Croix River, and our unseasonably warm November weather made the 3-day install a breeze. Overall, the warm and 'snowless' beginning to this winter has given all of us in construction the opportunity to complete projects quicker and easier than is typical for this time of year.