Kendallville, Ind.-based Flint & Walling, a privately owned division of Zoeller Corp., celebrated 140 years in the water business last year. The company was established in 1866 by Simeon Flint and David Walling, and originally built windmills and hand-operated water pumps (one of which is still on the original campus of the University of Notre Dame).

In the early 1930s, the company pioneered the shallow well piston pump, and built the first horizontal pump in the industry, the first cartridge seal, the first convertible jet pump, and the first horizontal pump tank system.

The company moved to its current line of water pumps - jet, centrifugal, pressure-booster, submersible, turbine, lawn sprinkler and fountain pond pumps - along with other products, such as city water-pressure-boosting systems. The company also offers a line of water-conditioning products under the Premier brand name.