History of Price Pump^® Company

In 1932, E.L. Price founded the company in Emeryville, California, building agricultural pumps for the region’s growing farms. The company relocated to Sonoma, California, in 1948, and Jack Price, E.L.’s son, led the firm through the 1950s.

In 1962, Leon J. Paul acquired Price Pump and made a decision that has shaped the company ever since: he kept the Price name, believing its reputation for quality and service was worth building on rather than replacing. That choice marked the start of more than six decades of continuous Paul family ownership, a rare thing in American manufacturing.

John Paul and his brother Jerry carried that stewardship forward, serving together on Price Pump’s board through decades of growth, from a small regional pump shop into a manufacturer trusted by industries worldwide. This commitment has continued into a third generation of the Paul family, who remain active in guiding the business.

The family has stayed rooted in Idaho, including its longstanding leadership of the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa. That commitment to the region was part of what drew Price Pump to Idaho in 2019.

Under the Paul family’s ownership, Price Pump recognized the growing industrial need for small stainless-steel pumps. In the early 1960s, the company introduced 316 SS and Hastelloy models, beginning a shift away from agriculture and toward industrial and specialty markets.

Jack Brown, hired in 1967 as the company’s first general manager, led that transition. By the late 1980s, agriculture had been largely replaced by chemical processing, industrial laser, and semiconductor manufacturing applications. Price Pump products serve liquid-cooled laser systems that circulate ultra-pure cooling water.

Continued growth pushed the company into larger Sonoma facilities, and Gene Webb succeeded Jack Brown as General Manager in 1984.

In the early 1990’s Price Pump shifted to a standardized quality control and just-in-time manufacturing practices. These changes helped reduce delivery times from the industry norm of six to eight weeks to a fraction of that time.

Price Pump offers four service tiers: standard 7–10 day shipment, expedited 2–6 day shipment, VIP (Very Important Pump) same- or next-day shipment, and PONY Express same-day parts shipment.

In 1994, Price Pump introduced its first magnetically driven, seal-less pump models. In 1999, the company acquired the air-operated diaphragm (AOD®) pump line from ITT-Marlow, doubling its distribution network and opening new geographic markets.

In 2007, a partnership with Mitsubishi Electric Automation added Variable Frequency Drives to complement Price Pump’s centrifugal pump offerings.

In 2012, the company implemented an ISO 9001-compliant quality management system to meet growing customer compliance requirements.

Spring 2019 opened a new chapter in Price Pump’s history with the purchase and construction of a state-of-the-art 46,000-square-foot facility in Caldwell, Idaho, complete with an in-house test laboratory. The move brought the company closer to its ownership family and supported continued growth.

Price Pump has expanded its vertical pump product line to cover a wider range of sizes and applications. Continued investment in the test laboratory has expanded the company’s ability to develop and test new and existing products, including development work involving lightweight drone systems.

New digital pricing and quoting tools have streamlined how customers and distributors access the information they need.

The addition of a Kitamura automated machining center, the largest capital investment the company has made since relocating to Idaho, has meaningfully expanded Price Pump’s precision manufacturing capacity.