A History of Knight Printing
The Year was 1888.
Dakota Territory was on the threshold of statehood. Fargo was a raw and boisterous town, barely into its teens.
Each day, the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads delivered hopeful new entrepreneurs to the collection of rowdy optimists already hanging out their signs along Broadway and Front Street. Among their number was Fred Knight, a printer from the civilized East who’d come to seek his fortune in the land of the wheat bonanza.
Knight’s press was one of the first hauled across the Red River by a steam-belching locomotive for a commercial printer. He founded one of the two oldest printing companies in what would be North Dakota (the other was Quality Printing, a division of the Bismarck Tribune, which was purchased ninety-two years later by Knight Printing).
Fred spent fifty-six years at the helm of the company he established. Knight specialized in government contract printing and school yearbooks. In addition, much of the election-related printing for the entire state went through Knight Printing.
Knight was as well known for his flamboyant style as for his printing. During his reign, he and his salesman (all men at that time) covered their territories by train. Later they drove the dusty rural highways in stately cars.
They entertained lavishly at the Knight Estate, Fred’s summer home on Lake Cormorant, where he could comfortably accommodate thirty weekend guests. The weekends provided stories years later that still are passed around at alumni events…
In the years before his death in 1944, Knight depended on an experienced team of long-time employees: Salesmen Tim Flaherty in Bismarck and Carl Vaugh in Cando, bookkeeper George McGregor, and general manager Carl Herdeg, who had mastered the plant operations from the ground up.
After the founder’s death, the four planned to purchase the company from Knight’s widow, but found they needed an additional investor. Herdeg turned to his longtime friend Steve Gorman to help them swing the deal. Both Herdeg and Gorman were big NDSU Bison boosters and both were involved with owning the minor league Fargo-Moorhead Twins team. The plan would be that Steve would provide the additional funds and would be bought out by the other 4 in the not too distant future.
But reality complicated things. Within the year both Carl Herdeg and Carl Vaughan died. That left a struggling business without two of its key people, along with two widows with whom it had to settle and no cash to do that. So, Steve Gorman found himself a partner with 2 folks that he hardly knew, much less an industry that he had no previous background in.
World War 2 ended and Steve’s son Steve Jr., returned in one piece and was asked to “protect his dad’s investment” by taking a job at Knight Printing. Steve came on board, and after a 6-month crash course in printing at the State School of Science in Wahpeton, he was set to hit the ground running.
Between the end of the war and the early 60’s, the Company realized successful years that were marked by innovation from the letterpress to offset printing. Steve Gorman, Jr. led the Company in these robust years… he was a community minded leader and one that all of his employees cared for.
The balance of the 60’s and the 70’s marked a big turnaround in the Company’s history. There were numerous acquisitions of smaller printers that enabled it to gain a significant market share of the printing needs in the state.
In the 1980’s… Ron Olson, George Montplaisir and Phil Larson were selected to assume the next generation of leaders. Ron was in sales, George in the financial end and Phil in the operations end. Steve Gorman Jr. would remain Chairman of the Board. After 42 years in a business he hadn’t planned on being in… he was turning over the reigns to the next generation of leaders.
The new team led the company through a decade and a half of growth that was given an added boost by the awarding of the Premier School Agenda program which would ultimately add $2 million to the annual revenues of Knight Printing. This summertime event provides upwards of 60 part time jobs for high school and college students in addition to the full time team at the Company. Over the years, upwards of 10 million school planners were created in the facility.
With the dot com bust and 9/11, the printing industry in North Dakota was challenged and Knight Printing was not immune to this. To the credit of a new team of leaders; Mike Wenaas, President, John Middlestead, Pre production and Jeff Anderson, Sales, the Company was able to maintain revenues even though the ability to produce profit was challenged. It was becoming evident that the Company must diversify and expand its product offerings to better meet the marketing communications needs of its clients. The years 2003 through 2005 were challenging and the entire Company rolled up their sleeves in order to make good on that vision. In 2006, a new partner was brought on board, Rich Slagle, who came to the Company with a background in Sales/Marketing. He further helped expand the movement into digital printing, direct mail and fulfillment services.
As this is written today, in early April 2007, the Company has realized 2 consecutive quarters of record revenue growth and is poised to finish 2007 with admirable results.
Under Mike’s leadership as President, the Company is attracting new top talent, positioning itself with many corporations in the area as “the graphic communications firm to go to” and placing itself on a growth plan that will increase its top line by over 50% in the next 5 years.
Whether it be 4-color digital printing, variable data related direct mail, annual reports, POS signage, fulfillment, e-commerce web sites, etcetera, the Company is the area’s premier choice for all.
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