Celebrating 70 Years of Service in 2023
We are grateful and humbled to be celebrating this incredible milestone.
It’s been incredible to see that what started in 1953 as a six-person architecture firm in Kalamazoo, MI, has grown into the TowerPinkster of today. We have been fortunate to experience so much success, growth, evolution, and joy over the past 70 years and it’s important to take a moment and reflect on just how far we have come. Our clients and projects have grown, and our expertise, markets, and services have expanded. Our professional staff now include mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, master planning, and technology design. We have also expanded our geographic reach with five offices across three states including Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky and are licensed in 26 states. It’s exciting to imagine what the next 70 years will bring – we have so much potential and a bright future! We know that we will continue to be curious, have fun, help our clients solve complex challenges, strengthen our team, support our communities, and continue to invest in making TowerPinkster a great place.
Each year is special and a reason to celebrate. And while we are looking forward to celebrating throughout the year with our team members, our clients, our family, our community, and friends, we are also excited to look back and celebrate all the contributions that landed us here today. Lucky for us, the firm has had some stellar historians who have meticulously catalogued and documented some of our earliest projects. We hope you enjoy looking back through the years and seeing the impact of TowerPinkster on the broader community.
Thank you for taking this journey with us.
What’s in a Name?
Like many design firms, TowerPinkster is named for leaders within the firm. In our case, that would be architects Bob Tower and Jerry Pinkster. However, the firm has had many names over the years as presidents, principals, and leaders retired and passed the firm on to the next generation. In 1980, the official firm name was cast as Tower Pinkster Titus Associates, Inc. Then, after a series of nicknames and abbreviations, CEO Arnie Mikon made the decision in 2006 to solidify our brand name as TowerPinkster. Fun fact – over our 70-year history, the firm has been known by more than 10 different names!
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- 1953: Stapert-Pratt-Bulthuis & Sprau, Inc.
- 1956: Stapert-Pratt-Bulthuis-Sprau & Crothers, Inc.
- 1960: Stapert-Pratt-Bulthuis & Sprau, Inc.
- 1967: Stapert-Pratt & Sprau, Inc.
- 1970: Stapert, Pratt, Sprau & Associates, Inc.
- 1972: Stapert, Pratt, Sprau, Tower & Associates, Inc.
- 1976: Stapert, Pratt, Sprau, Tower, Pinkster Associates, Inc.
- 1979: Tower-Pinkster Associates, Inc.
- 1980: Tower Pinkster Titus Associates, Inc.
- 2006: TowerPinkster
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A Look Through the Decades
Our history begins in 1953 when four Kalamazoo, MI, based-architects – Raymond Stapert, Herman Pratt, Alfred Bulthuis, and George Sprau – decided to strike out on their own. The rest, as they say, is history. In the past 70 years, we have grown to more than 200 team members and expanded our reach with offices in Indiana and Kentucky. Our impact on our communities continues to grow and we look forward to another 70 years of service, gratitude, and design excellence.