NEW ULM — For 117 years GSM has been doing business in New Ulm, under the ownership of four generations of the Gag family.

The company name and just what that business has been has been subject to change over the years, however.

GSM is short for Gag Sheet Metal, and working with sheet metal has always been a constant with the company, said current president John Gag.

It was originally, the Gag/Ranweiler Tin Shop. The original owner was George Gag, great-grandfather of John and Steve Gag, who carry on the tradition today. The business was located at 315 N. Minnesota St., in what was known then as the Singer building.

The business has always had a Gag at the head. George Gag turned the business over to his son, Melvin, who owned and ran it with his brother Elmer.

Melvin’s son Mike Gag started working in the company as a nine-year-old, and stayed with it for 61 years, retiring in 2002. Mike’s brother Loren worked part time in the late 50’s and then joined the company full time from 1965-1985.

Mike’s two sons are currently involved with the business. John, the current president of the company, started out fixing bicycles in the 1970s, then came back to the business full time in 1986. His brother Steve started full time in 1991, and is the HVAC manager for the business.

Diversification over the years.

The company originally worked with sheet metal, creating ducts for heating systems and putting metal roofs on barns and other buildings. They also repaired bicycles, a side business that continued up to 1980.

Working with heating ducts led into working with heating systems and furnace, and later HVAC systems.

George Gag soon bought out the Ranweiler partner, and the business continued as Gag Sheet Metal. In the 1940s it moved next door to 317 N. Minnesota, in what is now the Double Dimension building.

The company continued trying new things. In the 1960s and ’70s, they sold “Snow Bunnies” snowmobiles.

In 1967 the company moved into the “Ice House” building on Valley Street. Then in 2006 Gag moved to its current location 106 3rd North St., the former New Ulm Greenhouse.

The bicycle and snowmobile businesses have been dropped, but the company continues to expand and diversify. Plumbing is a natural fit with the heating business.

“It was always my dad’s dream to send me to plumbing school, but I wound up going to college,” John said.

But the dream came true in 2013, when Gag Sheet Metal acquired Schanus Plumbing & Heating in New Ulm, absorbing that operation into the 3rd North site. In 2013 it also acquired Isaacson Plumbing in Gibbon, and added that company’s line of appliances.

The company’s diversity allows it to bid on bigger pieces of different projects around the area.

“If you are specialized, if you want to grow your business you have to go farther afield,” said John.

Today, GSM can install flat roofing along with the metal trim and metal siding for industrial and commercial projects. It can do the plumbing, heating and HVAC work for a project. This allows the company to do more business while staying closer to home. It is doing a major portion of the New Ulm Recreation Center in town. The company does do work throughout the upper Midwest. It is working on the new middle school building in Marshall, for instance.

This has allowed the company to increase its revenues substantially. It will be doing work on the new National Guard Armory in New Ulm.

“When I started with the company in 1986, we did about $300,000 worth of business. Today, we have done between $14 million and $17 million a year,” John said.

Since the 1980s Gag Sheet Metal has been using the GSM logo, in part to reflect that it was not just a sheet metal company, but also cut down on explaining that the name is pronounced “Gahg” and not “Gayg”. But name changes take a while to take hold, especially when you’ve been around as long as GSM. Callers still get a little puzzled when they answer the phone “GSM.”

“Is this Gag’s?” the callers will ask. After 117 years, it sure is.