30th Anniversary Celebration

Power Curber Associates Surprise President with 30-Year Party

President and CEO Dyke Messinger completed 30 years of continuous service at Power Curbers with a surprise celebration at the company’s new manufacturing facility. Attending were his family, the local business community, and Power Curber associates. The new facility is located just off Interstate 85 at Exit 76 in Salisbury, NC, USA. The company was at its previous location 5 miles away, for 42 years.

Dyke Messinger celebrates 30 years of service at Power Curbers at a surprise party given by associates. He is posing with a model of one of the company’s earliest products, the Smith-field Curb and Gutter Machine (c 1957)

Dyke Messinger celebrates 30 years of service at Power Curbers at a surprise party given by associates. He is posing with a model of one of the company’s earliest products, the Smith-field Curb and Gutter Machine (c 1957)

Power Curbers, Inc. is now in its 55th year of operation by the Henderson-Messinger family. The business began as a manufacturer of curb extruding equipment. Power Curbers operates an international dealer network with machines sold into more than 80 countries.

Dyke Messinger’s grandfather, John S. Henderson, established the company in 1953. Henderson, a mechanical engineer and businessman in Boston, MA, was interested in developing family property in Salisbury. Bill Canfield, an employee of the NC Department of Transportation, had created an asphalt curb machine to mechanize the time-consuming manual process of laying curb. A few years later, Roy Smith, an assistant to Canfield at the DOT, joined the venture. He took the original invention and applied it to curb and gutter. Smith received a patent on his machine, called the Smith-field Curb and Gutter Machine.

Messinger’s son-in-law, Dick Messinger, joined the company in 1959. As president, he broadened the company’s base, developing a regional company into a network of dealers selling machines worldwide.

Dyke joined his father in the business in 1976, after earning an MBA from Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, and working abroad for Citibank. He became president in 1981. During his tenure, the business has more than doubled in growth. In the past decade, Dyke has added new businesses into the corporation with Southern Equipment Service of Salisbury, NC, a 3-state dealership; Anvil American, a supplier of components for the curb and gutter and paving markets; and Power Pavers of Cedar Falls, IA, a manufacturer of concrete paving equipment for the residential, highway and airport markets.

Dyke is on the board of directors of the National Association of Manufacturers, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and F & M Bank. He is a member of the World Presidents Organization.

In the community, he is chairman of the Rowan County Jobs Initiative, a member of the Board of the North Carolina Land Trust, a member of the Executive Board of the Central NC Council, Boy Scouts of America, a member of the Board of Visitors of Livingstone College, a member of the Rotary Club, a former chairman of the Board of Directors of Rowan Helping Ministries, former president of the United Way of Rowan County, and former chairman of the Board of Directors of Rowan Regional Medical Center.