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 and became Northern Vault GF INC, a family-owned company. In October 2024 our company became woman owned and continues to operate at the present location. Our core business is manufacturing and delivering Wilbert Outer Burial Containers/Wilbert Urn Burial Containers and Wilbert Urns as a Licensee of Wilbert. Northern Vault GF INC. also manufactures a variety of precast concrete products such as: Veterans’ Pads, used to attach a Veteran’s Marker to it and placement in the Cemetery. Monument/Headstone pads used to set the Monument/Headstone on top of to provide a perimeter that aids in the maintenance for cemetery staff.
The Company is excited to take our knowledge of precast concrete products and expand into other product offerings, such as, but not limited to the following: Electrical Transformer/Cabinet pads, Pole Bunkers for use in storage of materials, HVAC pads, Irrigation Controller/Cabinet pads, and Generator pads to name a few. 2025 will mark the 75th year of manufacturing and delivering Wilbert Outer Burial Containers to our loyal customers in this area. Northern Wilbert Vault Service (now Northern Vault GF INC) has had the privilege of manufacturing and delivering over 70,000 outer burial containers and urn burial containers to the Funeral Directors in this area.
A lot has changed over the past 75 years, however, one thing has not, our commitment to manufacturing and delivering the highest quality products. We look forward to continue honoring our roots now and into the future, by providing the best products and service possible to our customers.