CRS Engineers history

In 1948 the firm designed their first school, Huston Elementary in Blackwell, Oklahoma.

Caudill Rowlett Scott designed the first elementary schools built specifically to accommodate air conditioning--in San Angelo, Texas--and built the country's first all-glass gymnasium for Moore Junior High School in Tyler, Texas, in 1953.

CRS first went to the Middle East in 1964, accepting a $25,000 job to set a site for the King Fahad University of Petroleum & Minerals.

To adapt to its new focus on design, the firm renamed itself again in 1970, incorporating in Delaware and becoming CRS Design Associates.

In 1972, CRS made its first major post-public offering acquisition, buying A.A. Mathews, a construction engineering firm specializing in tunnel design with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and Rome.

In 1973, CRS and a joint venture partner, McGaughy, Marshall & McMillan, were awarded one of the largest Middle Eastern projects ever, to provide full architectural and engineering services for the King Abdulaziz Military Academy near Riyadh.

Also in 1978, Saudi businessman Gaith Pharaon bought a large stake in CRS, buying about 20 percent of the firm's shares at about $20 per share.

In 1979, the firm had $50 million in revenues and $2.85 million in net income.

By 1981 orders from the Middle East had slipped while other areas of business had grown, and only one quarter of CRS's revenues came from projects in the Middle East.

After the acquisition, in October 1983, CRS Group formally changed its name to CRS Sirrine, Inc.

The following year, 1984, it received a $105 million contract from Virginia Electric & Power to convert and upgrade an oil-operated plant to coal usage.

In 1985, CRS Sirrine's stock, which had been listed on the American Stock Exchange, was moved up to the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1988 profits rebounded, to $13.9 million on revenues of $478.3 million.

By 1991, CRSS Capital, Inc., the subsidiary that concentrates on cogeneration, ranked in the top 15 independent energy producers in America, with two cogeneration facilities and three small power production facilities.