An interesting history

They say criminals often return to the scene of the crime.

David Grandstaff did just that in April, 55 years after burglarizing the Mingo Trust and Savings Bank on Jan. 22, 1967. He and two accomplices cut a hole through the ceiling of an empty apartment over the bank building that deposited them squarely into the bank vault. They quickly broke open safe deposit boxes holding a few pieces of jewelry and a lot of papers, but not much cash. Even though they used blowtorches and spent the night trying, they weren’t able to breach the safe.

They got away with about “$1,400 in loose change,” according to a Des Moines Register newspaper account.

It was the second time thieves got away with just over $1,000 in cash from the Mingo bank. The first was on Nov. 24, 1930, when three men held up the bank in broad daylight and made off with about $1,100.

Kelly Maggard and her son Jake bought the 117-year-old bank building from the City of Mingo in January to house their business, KJM Design & Woodworking. As they went about tearing out old office spaces (the bank failed in 1988) they decided the bank vault, which took up precious square footage, needed to go. It was a dirty, dusty, labor-intensive job that surrendered a number of old bricks. Jake wrote a Facebook post with a picture of the bricks that read: “Bricks from the old bank safe in Mingo. Free. Come get them just outside the building.”

Jake was in the shop one day in April when Grandstaff, accompanied by another man, came into the former bank — this time through the front door.

“He just kind of came in to see where the safe was,” Jake said. “He was here maybe five or 10 minutes. He signed a brick. It’s weird how he didn’t say much.” Jake figures either Grandstaff or his friend saw the post and decided to revisit the scene of the crime.

Grandstaff is the subject of a 1993 book, “The Gang They Couldn’t Catch: The Story of America’s Greatest Modern-Day Bank Robbers — and How They Got Away with It.” The Mingo bank burglary may have been Grandstaff’s first bank conquest. Just a few weeks later, on Feb. 14, 1967, he and his gang robbed The First National Bank of Kellogg, according to the book.

In 1981, Grandstaff and two others robbed the cash repository of the First National Bank of Tucson of $3.3 million. At the time, it was the richest bank heist in U.S. history. Grandstaff and one of his accomplices were cleared of bank robbery charges in 1987, because, according to the book, the jury “hated Fennimore (a fellow robber turned state’s witness), couldn’t stand the FBI agents, and weren’t crazy about the bankers, either.”

Mingo residents aren’t crazy about Grandstaff, who returned to town in 2013 long enough to shoot some YouTube video footage that mentions the burglary. According to Kelly, there are some “bitter people” around town who weren’t impressed with Grandstaff or the book about him.

But it all makes for an interesting story about the building she and Jake are pouring their time, talent and creativity into.

“I lost my job in 2020,” Kelly, a Baxter native, said. Because she always had done “crafty things,” she decided it was “time to try something new.

“I have driven by this building a million times, and I never dreamed I’d buy it and have a store here,” Kelly said.

Jake started building custom tables and cornhole boards on the side while he was working at Colfax Tractor Parts. In the fall, he will begin his career as an adjunct professor at DMACC’s Newton campus, teaching an auto collision technology class.

The woodworking business started in the Maggards’ garage in Mingo. “It really took off after we bought a CNC (woodcarving) machine and laser cutter,” Jake said. “We’re going to move our machines and tools down here when the shop gets done,” Kelly said.

The retail portion of the business is the new home of the safe Grandstaff and his co-conspirators broke into all those years ago. Kelly is adept at decorating with accents found on Facebook Marketplace, like a grand double door with curved windows that leads from the store into the workshop. She and Jake chose a tin-look ceiling and a glittering chandelier to complete the space. The floors are original, as is a large cabinet they use to display their wares.

KJM Design & Woodworking products can be found in a number of area stores including Esther & Company in Newton, Absolutely YOUnique Boutique and Wild Roots in Colfax, JnM Marketplace at the Outlets of DesMoines in Altoona and Tweedle Dee’s in Ankeny. They also stock an Etsy store. Signs, tables, games, wooden spoons, key chains and custom barn quilts are among their handmade offerings.

“I like making personalized, sentimental items,” Kelly said, like a Christmas ornament featuring a man’s handwritten message that he used to propose to his girlfriend. Jake especially enjoys working on a Colfax Christmas village that was commissioned by Bank Iowa and is displayed in their window. He adds to the display each year.

Jake also personalized bricks for a memorial garden for the Colfax Christian Church and for the new Colfax-Mingo High School stadium, Tigerhawk Plaza.

Kelly and Jake agree they work well together: Jake does the marketing and makes large-scale items, and Kelly makes smaller items.

Jake says much of their business is gained the old-fashioned way: through word of mouth. “We pride ourselves on the way we have grown our business,” he added.

“It’s still growing,” Jake vowed. “This is just the start.”

KJM Design & Woodworking is open for special events, by appointment or by chance at 101 Station St., Mingo. Contact Jake at 515-669-0138.