History

McDowell Crane & Rigging is concluding 2025 by celebrating its 75th anniversary in business.

Headquartered out of Keokuk, Iowa, McDowell Crane & Rigging provides long-term and short-term crane rentals throughout the Tri-State area of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. The company traces its roots back to 1950 when Charles Robert (C. R.) McDowell started a construction company in Keokuk. C.R. built houses and he bought an old crane to help with that. In 1970, he bought his first hydraulic crane, an 18-ton, which was considered big at the time.

C.R.’s son, Robert (Bob) McDowell, who coincidentally was born the year the company was founded, joined his dad’s business and suggested they buy an even bigger 30-ton crane. C.R. co-signed the loan for the crane and in 1976 Bob started running the company.

There was high demand for cranes in the 1970’s, so Bob continued to purchase larger cranes. Soon McDowell Crane & Rigging was doing all the crane work within a 50-mile radius of Keokuk. When Bob bought a 165-ton crane, it was the largest crane in the state of Iowa.

Bob started a second location in Muscatine, Iowa, in the 1980’s. Muscatine had a lot of industry to keep the company’s cranes busy. McDowell Crane & Rigging also assisted with the installation of modular homes, water towers, and then cell phone towers.

In 2000, Bob and one of his employees, Jim Kettering, flew to Holland to purchase a 210-ton crane. It was shipped to Houston, Texas, and then Bob had it hauled back to Muscatine. Twenty-five years later, that 210-crane is still being used today.

In 2010, the company was acquired by Chris Azinger and Paul Schulte. The pair co-owns Seither & Cherry Co., an industrial contracting company, that utilizes the cranes available through McDowell Crane & Rigging with its own projects.

“I’m glad Chris (Azinger) and Paul (Schulte) came along when they did,” said Bob McDowell, former owner of McDowell Crane & Rigging. “It’s been fun, but I’m happy now. It’s a fight but it’s always interesting.”