One would suppose that with a fleet of 25 vehicles roaming the countryside bearing the name Ibid County Electric, natural curiosity would lead to the question, “Where is Ibid County?” You can check the maps repeatedly and not find Ibid County anywhere in Michigan, because it is not actually the name of a locale, it is the name of an electrical contractor based in Benton Harbor, and they’re marking 50-years in business here in 2019.
Pat Iliff, President of the company, says, “Everyone asks ‘Where is Ibid County,’ or ‘What is Ibid County,’ or makes the comment, ‘That’s a strange name, where did that come from.’ Obviously there is no county with the name Ibid. So where did it come from?”
Iliff solves the mystery by telling the Ibid County Electric story in this milestone year for the company. He says, “Fifty years ago in 1969 Clarence Mott and a partner started an electrical contracting business in Benton Harbor known as Inter City Electric. Clarence used the initials I.C.E. as his logo and he became known as the ICE Man.”
When he and his partner decided to part ways, Clarence opened his own shop, and since he had been known as the ICE Man he wanted to keep that logo. The word ibid is short for the Latin word ibidem, meaning “in the same place,” so by combining Ibid and County he was able to keep his logo of the ice man alive and also have a unique name.
Clarence retired in 2007 and the company was purchased by three long time employees, who were all, coincidentally also all Watervliet alumni. They were Pat Iliff, Rob Atherton and Brian Kniebes. Sadly, Brian passed away suddenly & unexpectedly in 2017.
Pat & Rob, however, continue operation of the company today with vital support from a dedicated, knowledgeable and hardworking support staff. Here’s an amazing story of growth over that 50 year time span. What began in 1969 as a 1 man shop, presently employs more than 130 workers. Iliff says, “That makes Ibid County Electric the largest and one of the oldest electrical contractors in Southwest Michigan,” and adds, “You may have seen our trucks running around Southwest Michigan as we have a fleet of 25 vehicles.”
Iliff notes, other than home generator installations they do not do residential work, making their primary focus commercial, industrial and institutional electrical work.
Ibid County Electric customers over the years include hospitals, casinos, Fortune 500 companies, factories, food processors, big box stores, restaurants, tool and die shops and many more.
The company installs and services “all electrical systems from incoming high voltage systems all the way down to tele/data low voltage systems and everything in between,” according to Iliff.
The majority of their work is located right here in Southwest Michigan but they have also completed projects in other parts of Michigan along with Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Colorado, California and as far away as Washington.
Iliff has a message for clients of the long running firm in this anniversary milestone year, “We want to thank all of our customers for 50 great years, we know this longevity would not be possible without their support, and we are looking forward to the next 50 years.”
Ibid County Electric is headquartered at 1523 Norton Street in the Fairplain neighborhood of Benton Harbor. You can learn more by visiting online at: http://www.ibidcountyelectric.com/
