by

Rob Kinney

    Jens Nielsen immigrated to Cedar Falls from Denmark in 1870. He found work operating a stone quarry near what is today 18th and Main Streets. A creek ran through the quarry, and although he changed its course, water from the creek still found its way into the stone pits. [1] In 1886, he decided to design a pump to remove the seepage water. Nielsen drew plans for the pump and made wooden models of what he wanted. By 1904, he developed a pump that provided enough suction to lift water fifteen feet above water level. [2] Seven years later the "gear within a gear," or rotary pump, began to be produced commercially. With the financial support of J. George Wyth, P.C. Petersen, and Dr. Will Hearst, the Viking Pump Company was formed. During its first year the company employed two people and sold fifty pumps. [3] In 1912 the company moved production into its first factory, on the 400 block on State Street. The growth of the automobile and other industries increased demand for production. Viking Pumps have been used in industries, warships, oil burners, and played an important part in both world wars. They have been used in countries all over the world. In 1968, the company merged with Houdaille Industries, Inc., and became the Viking Pump Division. Models and types of rotary pumps continued to increase, so that by 1977 there were 850 catalogued models, and the company was the largest manufacturer of rotary gear pumps in the world. [4] In 1987, the Cedar Falls Historical Society opened the Viking Pump Museum on the third floor of the George Wyth House (303 Franklin St.). Original wooden prototypes of Nielsen's pumps as well as artifacts from the history of the Viking Pump Company are on display there.

1. Herb Hake, 101 Stories of Cedar Falls (Cedar Falls: The Record, 1977), 45. 

2. Glenda Riley, Cities on the Cedar (Parkersburg: Mid Prarie Books, 1988), 37. 

3. Hake, 45. 

4. Hake, 45. 
 
 

George Wyth House. Pamphlet. Published by Cedar Falls Historical Society. 

Hake, Herb. 101 Stories of Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls: The Record, 1977. 

Riley, Glenda. Cities on the Cedar. Parkersburg: Mid Prarie Books, 1988.