A small company that builds one thing.

114 Mill Street, Kessel Falls. The kiln building is on the left. Photo 1985.

Vern Wendorf started Wendorf Water Company in 1961 out of a rented garage on Mill Street, installing and servicing water softeners for the farms around Kessel Falls. Lorraine, a chemistry teacher at the high school, joined the business full-time in 1969 and spent the next eight years working on the problem that every softener customer complained about: sediment. The answer was a ceramic element that could be cleaned instead of replaced, and a head that would clean it automatically. The first Perpetua shipped in March 1978. We have not built anything else since.

Our history

Our people

Sixty-one of us work at Mill Street. Casting, the kiln, assembly, test, shipping, service, and the office. The average length of service is sixteen years. Most of our service staff have built the unit they are talking you through on the phone. We think that matters.

Our town

Kessel Falls is a town of about 4,100 on the Kessel River, an hour north of Green Bay. Most of the houses in town have a Perpetua in the basement. So does the high school, the fire station, the parish, and the creamery. When you call us, you are calling your neighbors, or people who would be if you lived here.