Whitney Monument Works marks 150th year in business

In 1875, a man named Mark Whitney opened up a business carving headstones in Keosauqua.

His son, Lewis, moved the venture to Fairfield in 1911. Lewis’ son, Harry, relocated it to its current location on Depot Avenue in 1934, and his son Lewis took over in 1949. The business was then passed to Kent and Ronda Whitney, who would open another office in Mt. Pleasant, as well as displays in Washington and Burlington.

“It was just something, in my second year of college, that I decided this is what I wanted to do,” Kent said of his decision to take on ownership in 1991. “I decided it was a good fit for me, and so it worked out.”

The traits of a good monument craftsman — things like creativity, an artistic eye and entrepreneurial spirit — evidently run in the family.

Kent has now passed the torch to his son, Jordan, making him the sixth generation of the family to own Whitney Monument Works.

2025 marks the 150th year in business for Whitney Monument Works, a milestone marked by few in Southeast Iowa, a state incorporated just a few decades prior to Mark Whitney’s shop opening.

Jordan Whitney said the century and a half of service gave his family plenty to be proud of.

“I love what I do, it’s different every day and there is, I guess, a sense of pressure to uphold those standards of quality, and keep it going for another however-many years,” he said. “And there’s a lot of gratitude for the generations that came before, for the reputation that they built, that we’re easy to work with, and we’re going to go above and beyond to do things the right way. I’m grateful that I don’t have to establish that reputation, I just have to continue it.”

Jordan initially had no intentions of taking over the enterprise growing up, but said he found himself called back to the work after some time away.

“Up until about five years ago, I really didn’t think I was going to be coming back into the family business,” Jordan said. “I was living in Chicago, working in restaurants, kind of exploring life and figuring it out as I went. And then of course COVID happened, and I came back home for a little bit and worked for my parents. And little by little, my perspectives and priorities shifted. I realized it was something I found a lot of fulfillment in.”

The work isn’t grim, per se, but it is quite serious.

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Most clients in the market for a headstone are grieving, or at least expect to be in the near future. Some face unimaginable tragedies, while others face losses that come as a fact of life. Still, the trade offers a clear sense of purpose to its practitioners.

“When it’s for a younger child, those are the ones we wish we didn’t have to do, but are some of the most important ones that we do for families,” he said. “It’s really not morbid at all, it’s more of a craft. But we of course are still dealing with families and friends that are grieving. It can definitely tug at your heart.”

For a profession that’s roughly 5,000 years old, memorial stonework has evolved considerably — albeit slowly — in the Whitney business’ century and a half of operation.

Much of the work today involves sandblasting, Photoshop, and a diamond etcher that can carve photo-realistic images onto stone.

However, some of it still involves more traditional methods.

“A lot of it still has to be hauled around on a dolly, and done by hand,” Jordan said. “And we still occasionally pull out the hammer and chisel, as well.”

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Jordan emphasized that he has every intention of upholding the standards of quality and care that his forefathers have provided families for fifteen decades.

That requires a dedicated attitude from every employee, at every hour, on every job. Staff joke that any mistake in the stone-engraving business is expensive, and behind the scenes, each must give their work their undivided attention and a generous portion of their time.

“We try to have systems in place for taking the time to really look things over. We double check, triple check things like names, spellings, states, whose name goes on which side and which way the stone faces,” Jordan said. “I’ve always told everyone who starts to work here what the guy who trained me, initially, told me. You try and treat every stone like it’s your grandma’s. And putting that care and attention and focus into it, it’s always good to think of it that way. You’re not cutting any corners, or taking any shortcuts.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com