CHICAGO BRIDGE & IRON CO history

Founded in 1889 by Horace Horton, Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. was created by the merger of several small firms that manufactured parts for iron bridges.

In 1890 Chicago Bridge & Iron absorbed the operations of the Des Moines-based George E. King Bridge Company.

The company entered 1907 on strong growth, with contracts for several hundred water tanks, hundreds of bridges, and miscellaneous structures.

Horton died on July 28, 1912, leaving the business to his wife and five children.

At the close of the war in 1919, George Horton decided not to involve his company in the reconstruction of Europe.

In 1929, on the strength of its tank business, Chicago Bridge & Iron absorbed the large Reeves Brothers plant in Birmingham, Alabama.

While the Canadian plant began building heat exchangers and welded ships, the repeal in 1933 of Prohibition led to massive brewery contracts for the American plants.

The outbreak of war in December 1941 put Chicago Bridge & Iron on a war footing.

In January of 1942 Chicago Bridge & Iron took control of a Pacific yard at Eureka, California, and later established facilities in Newburgh, New York, and Seneca, Illinois.

By March 1946, the company encountered a boat glut.

Also in 1954, Merle Trees died.

In 1958, as international expansion continued, the company established an Argentine subsidiary, Cometarsa, which failed to perform well and was sold nine years later.

In 1960 the company established subsidiaries in Germany and Holland and, later, in Mexico.

1966 The company builds its first offshore oil storage structure, the Molly Brown.

John Horton, son of Horace B. Horton, who succeeded Josh Clarke as president in 1968, stepped down after only 11 months in office to pursue personal interests.

He moved to diversify the company and in 1975 purchased Virginia-based Fairmac Corporation, a real estate developer.

Liquid Carbonic had been founded in 1888 to supply carbon dioxide gas to soda fountains and soft drink bottlers. Its search ended in 1984 when the company purchased Liquid Carbonic, the world's leading supplier of carbon dioxide, from Houston Natural Gas for $407 million.

Airgas unsuccessfully tried to buy it for $1.5 billion in 1994.

The company added another digit to its top line when it acquired Howe-Baker International, L.L.C. in December 2000.

2003 The corporate identity is updated; John Brown Hydrocarbons Ltd. is acquired.

Revenues exceeded $2 billion in 2005.

Revenues were expected to be $2.8 billion for 2006.