Utah County-based Clyde Companies marks 100 years by building new community of 'Ironton'

SPRINGVILLE — It's just a patch of dirt now on the border of Provo and Springville off Highway 89.

But someday, you might come here for dinner, bring your ice skates, or even live here.

Clyde Companies broke ground Monday on Ironton, a development spanning the two Utah County cities. The plans show townhomes, condos and single-family homes, along with restaurants, walking trails, public art and an ice-skating ribbon.

For Wilford Clyde, the company's chairman and the grandson of founder W.W. Clyde, the location is part of what makes the project significant.

"We started in Springville 100 years ago, and we're trying to give back," he said.

As a boy, Clyde said he learned how far the company's work had taken it by riding around Utah with his dad.

"It was always kind of fun when I was a young boy to ride with my dad and he would say, 'Yeah, we built this road back in such and such a year,'" he said.

Among the projects the company took on was rebuilding a stretch of U.S. 6 after the Thistle flooding disaster in the 1980s.

Clyde said his grandfather's influence still shows up in how the company treats its workers.

"My grandfather always believed in paying high wages and having good benefits for his employees, and we've tried to carry that on," he said.

The company is also building a new headquarters in Springville. It's going up across the street from where company leaders and the mayors of Springville and Provo participated in a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday.

Jeremy Hafen, the president and CEO of Clyde Companies, said some parts of Ironton won't make money.

"If we were basing this decision solely on financial results, we wouldn't do it. We are here to really to give back," he said. "Some aspects of this project will make no money, and that's just how it is."

He said he wants people who already live in the area to have somewhere to get together.

"I think it's important in a world sometimes of business and corporations where it's the almighty dollar directing decisions, we try to take a step back sometimes and just say, 'Hey, let's do a little bit more than that and let's be here for the long run,'" Hafen said. "Let's balance that out and let's give back. I think that's a good recipe for just long-term success and good for society."

After a century of building roads that get people somewhere, the company's plan for this patch of dirt is to give them a place to stay awhile.

"We're very proud of what be to be a part of this wonderful state of Utah and to make it be a better state," said Wilford Clyde. "That's been the key to our success is doing things the right way."