DeKalb Iron & Metal Co.

DeKalb Iron & Metal Co. is founded upon a rich history dating back to the early 1900′s. This deep-rooted history is still prevalent in the level of customer service and craftsmanship found at DIMCO today.In 1918, Michael Mabel, a 20-year old immigrant peddler was traveling by train to Chicago. As the train pulled into DeKalb, Mike saw the bustling landscape of the local industries present in the community. A block from the station, he found a small scrap yard that was established by two WWI vets only a year earlier. He negotiated a price for the fledgling operation, and on July 1, 1918, DeKalb Iron & Coal was born.

Mike made the business a successful operation by providing superior service at a fair price. As the name implies, the company handled coal in addition to scrap iron and metals. During the Depression, some of his customers could not pay him for the coal they needed to heat their homes. Mike understood the desolate situation of his customers, and delivered the coal anyway. His dedication and level of service was rewarded through strong customer loyalty.

In 1947, his son-in-law, David Prober, entered the business. Dave, with an engineering degree from the University of Illinois, improved the company by mechanizing the operation. Dave purchased the company in 1954 and started the Metal Service Center that year.In the 1970′s, Dave’s sons-in-law, Jeff Gorman and Mark Hein joined the company and oversaw many expansion and equipment improvement projects.Today, DeKalb Iron & Metal provides products and services to customers from coast-to-coast. While DIMCO’s primary area of operation is Northern Illinois, they have provided customers with products and services as far east as Pennsylvania and as far west as California.

DIMCO has over 50 years of experience as a metal service provider and thousands of satisfied customers. DIMCO provides the steel, aluminum, stainless steel and brass products, required by construction companies, manufacturers and job shops to produce their products. We purchase and stock the products our customers require so they can get what they need when they need it quickly and economically. Stock items and most non-stock items are delivered to our customers in 1-day. We also provide cutting and other services to minimize waste and make our customer’s jobs that much easier to complete.

We stock a variety of products in the following categories:

• Hot rolled bars, structurals, sheets and plates
• Cold rolled bars and sheets
• Structural and pressure tested pipe
• Round tubing
• Concrete reinforcing bars
• Mechanical and structural square and rectangular tubing
• Expanded steel and bar grating
• Aluminum bars, structurals, sheets and plates
• Stainless bars, structurals, sheets and plates

We aim to serve.

At DIMCO, we strive to provide our customers with fair pricing and the proper equipment to safely and quickly handle their scrap metal needs.

• We have small containers ranging from 1/4 yard through 2 yards available so you can accumulate production or maintenance scrap. If you need a different size, we will make sure to provide you with a container that fits your requirements.
• If you need several trailers or large containers to segregate and accumulate different grades of production and/or maintenance scrap, we have open-top trailers, flatbed trailers, load lugger and roll-off containers.
• We also provide a convenient drive-through recycling center to bring aluminum cans, copper wire or other metals.

We purchase or accept most metallic scrap:

• All alloys of aluminum
• All alloys of brass
• All alloys of copper
• Most alloys of lead
• All grades of scrap iron and steel
• All stainless steel and nickel alloys
• All alloys of tin
• All alloys of zinc
• Computer scrap

We do not take the following items:

• Transformers and ballasts containing PCBs
• Bullet lead and brass shell casings
• Appliances that contain Freon
• Items containing primarily plastic, rubber or wood
• Mercury or any item containing Mercury
• Any items containing hazardous substances or chemicals