County IDA officials recently announced their support of the purchase of Dahlstrom Roll Form by two members of the company’s leadership team.

The sale comes at a time when the company’s foothold in Chautauqua County was weakening. Robert White, the company’s previous owner, had decided to retire and put Dahlstrom Roll Form up for sale. There had been at least one serious offer from a German company that could have ended up moving the local company to Kentucky.

So kudos to Jeremy Blum, current Dahlstrom Roll Form CEO, and Brad Renwick, current Dahlstrom Roll Form COO, for raising the capital to purchase the company and keep it in the Jamestown area.

Dahlstrom Roll Form has a long history in the greater Jamestown area. It was founded in 1904 by Charles Dahlstrom, a Swedish immigrant, as the Dahlstrom Metallic Door Company and initially made doors for large-scale buildings across the United States, including the construction of the Empire State Building. It eventually expanded its metallic roll form operation to meet other needs.

In 2019, Dahlstrom Roll Form purchased DC Roll Form at 221 Lister Ave., Falconer, with financial assistance from the CCIDA through a mortgage recording tax exemption. In 2022, the company fully moved into the new location.

We’re often critical of the county IDA when a company moves with seemingly little done to keep them here. But this is at least the second time that the IDA has helped keep a company local by helping local executives purchase a manufacturer. It’s likely, without the IDA’s help, both Weber Knapp and Dahlstrom Roll Form would have joined the list of companies that used to call the Jamestown area home.

The IDA’s loan will help keep 43 jobs – and a long-respected name in Jamestown’s manufacturing community – here long into the future. That’s a good day’s work.