Northern Wilbert Vault Service History

The original idea for Northern Wilbert Vault Service started in 1949 and became reality in 1950 with an

agreement to become a Sub-Licensee of Wilbert Vault. This agreement allowed Northern Wilbert Vault

Service to start manufacturing and distributing Wilbert Vaults in Northwestern Minnesota and

Northeastern North Dakota. Early in the spring of 1950 an 1,800 square foot facility was built in East

Grand Forks, Minnesota. Production of one vault per day began in July of 1950, with the first vault

delivery happening on July 18th of that year.

Sales slowly increased from 3-4 vaults per month to 10 vaults per month in 1951. A second delivery

truck was added to accommodate the increased demand. In 1952, the concrete grave box was

introduced, which replaced the wooden rough boxes used by cemeteries. This is the year Northern

Wilbert Vault Service also started providing Cemetery Tent Services. In these early years, whenever a

Continental Vault was ordered, a trip was made to Chandler Wilbert Vault Company (now known as

Brown-Wilbert) in St. Paul, MN to pick up the vault so it could be delivered the next day. Northern

Wilbert Vault Service did not have the capability to produce this type of vault yet.

In 1958, Wilbert, with the assistance of Bud Chandler (Chandler Wilbert), introduced the Strentex plastic

lined Monticello Vault. With this new product business began to grow rapidly. By 1970, the business had

outgrown its capacity at the location in East Grand Forks, MN and was relocated to the much larger and

current location in Grand Forks, North Dakota. This same year, motorized carts were added to the

delivery fleet. Over the next 24 years, Sales of Wilbert products continued to increase as well as sales of

other precast concrete products. Additional employees and delivery trucks were added as demand

increased during this time.

In 1994, Northern Wilbert Vault Service was purchased by Wells Concrete and continued to expand

Wilbert Vault product offerings, along with its own concrete ready-mix and precast concrete products.

Wells Concrete continued operating this service until Kost Materials purchased their Grand Forks

operations in March of 2020. The original Northern Wilbert Vault service continued to operate as a

division of Kost Materials.

In April of 2022, Northern Wilbert Vault Service was purchased from Kost Materials by Northern Vault

GF INC, a family-owned company, which continues to operate at the present location. Manufacturing and delivering Wilbert Burial

Vaults/Wilbert Urn Burial Vaults and Wilbert Urns as a Licensee of Wilbert. Kost Materials retained the

concrete ready-mix portion of the business and remains a close neighbor. Besides Wilbert Burial

Products, Northern Vault GF INC also manufactures a variety of custom precast concrete products such

as Grave Boxes, Veterans Pads, Monument/Headstone Pads, Electrical Cabinet/Transformer pads as well

as Irrigation Cabinet pads.

2023 will mark the 73rd year of manufacturing and delivering Wilbert Vaults to our incredible customers

in this area. Northern Wilbert Vault Service (now Northern Vault GF INC) has had the privilege of

manufacturing and delivering over 70,000 burial vaults/urn burial vaults and grave boxes to the Funeral

Directors in this area. A lot has changed over the past 72 years, however one thing has not, our

commitment to manufacturing and delivering the best products. We look forward to honoring our roots

by continuing to provide the best products and service possible to the Funeral Homes in our area.