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Graniterock history
Graniterock company history timeline
On Valentine's Day, 1900, the partnership was incorporated as the Granite Rock Company.
A contract to build a Carnegie Library in Watsonville in 1903, with a winning bid of $11,290, helped overcome the deficits inherent in the business.
28" gauge, 2 yard cars were purchased in 1903, loaded by hand, and pushed by hand to feed crushers at the lower level.
Fred W. Swanton, who founded the Santa Cruz Beach, Cottage and Tent City Corporation in 1903, was an early customer.
By 1903 there were nearly two dozen men working the quarry, each of whom must have been enormously relieved by the arrival of a steam-powered crusher, which reduced 20 tons of granite into two-and-a-half-inch pieces each hour.
Prior to 1906, the quarry's output was used primarily for railroad ballast.
Granite Rock’s payroll grew from 24 men in its infancy to 110 by 1909.
Harry Totten began work at Granite Rock Company in 1910, and had a long career as switch train operator.
Rail cars and the old secondary crushing plant, which was built in 1910 by A.R. Wilson.
Dinkey Number Two, which was purchased in 1913, and Western Dump cars stand at the top of the chute of the #8 plant.
100 years ago In 1914, Graniterock expanded its quarry operations with the purchase of 151 acres from Henry F. Blohm.
Sanford Fly, who was hired in March of 1915, worked as a quarry laborer.
In 1915, the California State Legislature passed a bill known as the “Get Out of the Mud Act” to encourage street modernization, and Granite Rock salesmen were busy signing up neighborhoods to pave their streets.
In 1916, a railroad was built to Southern California’s Doheny oil fields, and Granite Rock sent men and machinery as far south as Santa Maria to do the work.
Kelley Springfield Asphalt spreader, purchased in 1916, spraying asphalt on the Castroville to Moss Landing Road.
In 1918, Granite Rock built the highway connecting Castroville with Moss Landing.
Scott, who had been by Wilkinson’s side since 1920 and owned a third of Granite Construction Company, assumed the presidency.
Owen Fly began work in 1920, at the age of 23.
Her office was in a modular office building, because the company had run out of space in the building that had served as Corporate Office since the 1920s.
Harry and Grace Totten sit in the cab of the engine, a 26 ½ ton 0-4-0 Porter standard gauge locomotive that was built in 1920.
In 1921, all his stock in Granite Rock Company was lost in the failure of a separate business venture.
“His Middle Name Stands for ‘Roads’”. Watsonville Register cartoonist Wallace MacDougall sketched Arthur R. Wilson for a front page story on March 15, 1922.
In 1922, A.R. Wilson became Granite Rock Company president and majority shareholder.
Porter and Wilson continued to lead the company as the decade began, but in 1922 Porter fell victim to his ambitious and diverse business interests.
In 1924, Wilson started Central Supply Company, which distributed building materials.
The Santa Cruz Branch of Central Supply Company and California’s first central mix concrete plant, built in 1924 at Chestnut and Jenne Streets.
Lee Purtill had a long career as a manager and superintendent at Logan Quarry, and was hired by Arthur R. Wilson in 1925.
Wilson had purchased Warren Porter’s interest in Granite Rock from Java Coconut Oil in 1928 and was the majority shareholder and president.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates in hopes of cooling down the stock market; higher interest rates led to less construction, which was also reeling from an excess supply of housing thanks to a building boom in 1928.
The day he died, the stock market began a downward slide, which culminated 10 days later in the Great Crash of 1929.
He went on to become company president and found Granite Construction Company and Central Supply Company before his death in 1929.
At the end of the decade, just before the 1929 Stock Market Crash, Arthur Wilson died, Anna Weiss Wilson became president of all three companies, and Jeff Wilson took over as General Manager.
In 1929, while driving home from the Aromas quarry, Wilson suffered a heart attack and died, leading to the first change in leadership in the company's 30-year history.
In 1930, work began on Hoover Dam, a $48 million project awarded to a consortium of six construction firms, but hard times quickly followed.
By the end of 1932, Granite salaries were cut by 10 percent.
By 1936, Granite Rock's financial position had become precarious enough to warrant the sale of Granite Construction Company and several branches of Central Supply Company.
This 44 ½ ton 1907 American Locomotive Company/Schenectady standard gauge 0-4-0 steam locomotive was once American Smelter Securities and Nevada Consolidated Copper engine #335. It was rebuilt for the Amador Central Railroad by A.D. Schader Company, used for the construction of Treasure Island and purchased by Granite Rock Company for use at the quarry in 1939.
Granite Rock Company narrow gauge engine Number Four, taking on water about 1940.
It was purchased used from Old Mission Cement Company of San Juan Bautista in 1942.
A new primary crushing plant was built at the lower level, with a grand opening in 1946.
Tom started with Granite Rock Company in 1947, and delivered concrete from the Salinas Branch for 36 years.
In 1950, Graniterock purchased its first “new” fleet of concrete mixers: eleven Ford F-6 Cab-Over-Engine (COE) trucks equipped with 2-yard Willard mixers from the Ford dealer in Salinas.
For 1950 F-Series Trucks
The Wet Processing and Loading Plant, which was built in 1954.
The Sanford brothers worked at the quarry until their retirement in 1955.
Corporate Office staff enjoyed a meal served on portable “TV tray” tables, all the rage in 1958.
50 years ago In 1964, Graniterock expanded into San Mateo County with the purchase of the Blomquist Oil Service asphaltic concrete and emulsions plant in Redwood City.
In 1965, Granite’s engineering department worked on Donner Pass, a treacherous mountain pass in northern Sierra Nevada.
In 1966, Granite Rock Company concrete was used to form the girders for construction of the new Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system.
Bill Van Sandt and Bruce W. Woolpert in front of a transit mixer displaying the new Graniterock name and logo, created in 1969.
In 1970, 7,500 tons of rock per day could be shipped out from Logan Quarry, and twenty-five new 100-ton hopper cars were purchased to help meet the demand.
At that time Granite Rock Company trucking was discontinued, but was reinstituted in 1971.
Granite constructed the Powell Street station beneath the system’s hub at Market Street, which opened in 1972.
He graduated from UCLA in 1974 with degrees in economics and mathematics and finished first in his class at Stanford Business School.
Graniterock people celebrated 75 years of business with dinner and dancing at the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, located at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, on Saturday, February 15, 1975.
In 1983, Truscott Brine Dam, a $23 million dam-building project in the Texas panhandle, expanded Granite’s reach into the Lone Star State.
In 1985, fifty-one percent of Granite was sold to employees as part of a popular employee stock ownership plan.
Prior to joining the family business in 1986, Woolpert had distinguished himself both academically and professionally.
Mike and Marie Marheineke congratulate Betsy Woolpert as she celebrates her retirement in December, 1987.
A concrete plant at Redwood City and an asphalt facility in South San Francisco were added, and in 1988 the Company resurrected its Contractor’s License #22 with Graniterock Construction Division.
The quarry modernization dedication in memory of A.R. Wilson and the Company’s 90th Birthday were celebrated with a grand Open House event in the 1989.
Rebuilt in only 54 days, significantly ahead of schedule, after the previous bridge was destroyed in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
As an aside, President Bush told Bruce about flying over Watsonville by helicopter after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, and asked how the city was faring.
25 years ago In 1989, Graniterock adopted “Quality By Design’ as its theme for the year.
In 1990, Granite Construction Incorporated entered the public market as GVA on the NASDAQ Exchange (later moved over to the NYSE) with an initial public offering (IPO). By the end of this decade, Granite would reach the $1 billion mark in annual revenues and expand into new markets.
In 1991, the first Pops & Rocks 4th of July Concert was held at the A.R. Wilson Quarry.
In December 1992, Graniterock was awarded our nation’s highest honor for business excellence, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
In 1992, other winners included the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, AT&T Universal Card Services, Texas Instruments Defense Systems and Electronics Group, and AT&T Transmissions Systems Business Unit.
In March 1993, another team went back the nation’s capital to share the Graniterock Story with people who attended the national Quest for Excellence conference.
Graniterock families sing Christmas carols at a Pajaro Dunes holiday lunch in 1994.
Dave Franceschi examines the first overburden soil transported by the A.R. Wilson Overburden Conveyor System in September 1995.
In 1996, the $800 million San Joaquin Toll Road project marked Granite’s expertise in design-build projects.
On May 18, 1997, Graniterock’s fully restored #10 Locomotive was unveiled and put into action at the California State Railroad Museum in Old Town Sacramento.
On February 14, 2000, A.R. Wilson’s grandson, Bruce Wilson Woolpert, welcomed President George H.W. Bush, Graniterock People, customers and friends to a gala 100th anniversary celebration.
September 11, 2001, began in New York City as a warm, late summer day with a clear blue sky.
Preparing for a new millennium, expansive corporate offices were opened in Watsonville in 2002, and company sites were added in Oakland, Cupertino and Milpitas.
The new building is located in Seaside opened on September 21, 2007.
In 2009, Granite began another big project for New York: the Queens Bored Tunnel.
In 2010, Bill Dorey retired as CEO, and Jim Roberts, nephew of the legendary Dick Roberts and a lifelong Granite employee, was named President and CEO.
Capping off 2012, Granite participated in a joint venture to rebuild New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge, the largest bridge project in New York’s history.
The year 2018 was highlighted by the acquisitions of Layne Christensen and LiquiForce, both of which advanced Granite’s goal of becoming a full suite provider of construction and rehabilitation services for the water and wastewater markets.
In 2019, Granite was honored to be recognized for the tenth consecutive year as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere Institute®.
Larkin also oversaw the development of a new strategic plan to lead Granite to greater success in the 2020s.
On January 4th, 2022, Granite turned 100 years old.
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Graniterock competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knife River | 1917 | $2.9B | 7,500 | 209 |
| Geneva Rock Products | 1954 | $240.0M | 1,000 | 6 |
| Granite Construction | 1922 | $4.0B | 4,200 | 328 |
| W. R. Meadows | 1926 | $8.5M | 150 | - |
| SC Builders | 1999 | $21.0M | 50 | 14 |
| Rudd Equipment | - | $5.1M | 35 | 37 |
| Gilkey Window Co., Inc. | - | $17.0M | 100 | - |
| Acme Miami | 1977 | $1.6M | 15 | - |
| StyleCraft Homes of VA | - | $210,000 | 5 | 9 |
| Waynes | 1973 | $1.8M | 6 | 36 |
Graniterock history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Graniterock, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Graniterock. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Graniterock. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Graniterock. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Graniterock and its employees or that of Zippia.
Graniterock may also be known as or be related to Granite Rock Co., Granite Rock Company, Graniterock, Graniterock Co. and Graniterock Company.