About Watts Vault and Monument

Quality products at a fair price are the backbone of Watts Vault and Monument. Our company is made up of caring, knowledgeable, and experienced people. Our customers and their families are key to the Watts mission. We listen, to better serve you. We handle over 4000 interments per year throughout Iowa.

Keith and Bernice Watts founded Watts Vault & Monument Company in 1957 in Montezuma, Iowa. Their son and daughter-in-law, Craig and Lyndal Watts took over ownership of the business in 1986. In June 1991, we expanded the operation with the purchase of Dude's Central Hawkeye Vault Company in West Des Moines, Iowa. In 1995, we also purchased E & D Vault of Chariton, Iowa.

A new 35,500 square foot central manufacturing facility was built at 4920 Hubbell Avenue in Des Moines in 1999, and is our current headquarters, as we grow and expand. In February 2004, Watts expanded eastward by acquiring our building in Iowa City and opening Watts Vault and Monument of Iowa City.

In March 1998, Watts implemented the first education center for funeral directors and pre-need staff in the burial vault industry.  

Watts offers a complete line of burial and cremation products. We maintain Trigard, Doric and Clark Steel burial vaults in our inventory to serve the needs of funeral directors throughout Iowa. As a major retail monument company, our granite now comes from all over the world. We offer a wide selection of both granite and bronze memorials to families in all price ranges. We are an Iowa distributor of Cherokee infant and child caskets. 

After over 20 years in death care, Jonn Dukes purchased Watts Vault in 2019. He brings a personal commitment to service in all he does. He received his mortuary science degree in 2015. John is a member of the Iowa Funeral Directors Association (IFDA), Monument Builders of North America (MBNA), is on the Board of Directors for Funeral Services of Iowa (FSI), Board of Directors and treasurer of the National Concrete Burial Vault Association (NCBVA), and is secretary of the Little Al Foundation, whose mission is to help cover expenses for families who must travel for their child’s medical care. If you’re in funeral service in Iowa, you probably know John.

Today, we operate retail offices in Des Moines, Montezuma, and Iowa City to serve our families.