Organization History and Mission
Crescent Printing Company (CPC) was founded by Everett B. Lund in the early 1930s when, while working as a delivery person for a local dairy, he purchased his first printing press for $50. His first printing job was imprinting on labels for the Onalaska Pickle and Canning Company.
After World War II, Lund started Modern Printing Company and began publishing the Holmen Times. Later, he purchased the La Crosse County Record, published in Onalaska. The two papers eventually merged into the weekly Times-Record. Circulation was approximately 800 with a yearly subscription cost of $3.
Lund purchased Crescent Printing Company in 1956, and later sold his newspaper interests, which at one time included the La Crosse Shopper, to concentrate on outside printing contracts.
An association with D. B. Reinhart, owner of Gateway Foods, brought the opportunity to produce what was called the IGA Shopper, an eight-page black and white tabloid. For a number of years, this publication was printed using the letterpress process. As Gateway grew, so did their need for a better product. To meet Reinhart's production specifications and still remain competitive, Crescent purchased its first web offset press. Along with speed and efficiency, the company could now offer color to Gateway as well as the many weekly newspapers and shoppers it was now printing.
Current President, Roger Bjorge, joined Crescent in 1957. His first job was running a linotype machine. As the business grew, the opportunity to work in and become familiar with all phases of the company was the stepping stone for Roger to become part of the management team.
In order to meet the growing demand of newsprint publications for higher quality, more pages and faster turnaround, the company purchased both used and new web offset presses. During this period, the sheetfed offset business was also growing, so the company invested in equipment to meet those needs as well.
A new look emerged in the early 1970s when Everett Lund’s son, James O. Lund, joined the company. Jim, the current Vice President, was brought on board to manage the art department. Phototype print and paste-up, technologies well suited for Crescent Printing’s shopper market, were introduced by Jim.
By 1977, Crescent Printing outgrew its office on Caledonia Street in La Crosse and relocated to the Onalaska Industrial Park. A sales staff was introduced to bring in more customers.
During the 1980s, CPC remained strong in insert work and shopper printing. Presses were added and the company grew. Computerization tracked job flow through a bar-coding system to ensure efficient project management. Precision imaging was introduced to guarantee accurate printing for the growing electronic market.
Today, CPC is recognized as a world class commercial web offset and sheet fed printer, specializing in catalogs, magazines, manuals, inserts, tourism guides, direct mailers and more. Crescent Printing takes great pride in their products and services, and proudly builds long-lasting customer relationships from coast to coast.