Ingram Barge history

In 1948 Crounse put down a large chunk of his own money, and took out an even larger loan, and had the boat built himself.

He endorsed unionization in 1955 and created the first company-union pension plan.

In 1963, O.H. Ingram died, and the family business was taken over by his two sons, Frederic and Bronson, who changed the company's name to Ingram Corporation.

After the arrival of a new company president in 1969, the distributor, which had been making about $3 million in trade sales, began a series of innovative programs.

Early in 1970, the company made tentative plans to sell stock to the public in order to finance further expansion, but those plans were dropped in June.

In 1972, Ingram Book built on these gains by developing a microfiche system that provided weekly inventory updates to booksellers.

However, in 1973, Ingram did form a joint venture to build an oil refinery in Louisiana with Northeast Petroleum Industries, Inc.

In 1974, Ingram acquired Tampimex Oil, a London-based petroleum broker with revenues of $680 million.

In 1975, the company formed a joint venture to develop petroleum in Iran.

In October 1976, gross monthly orders reached $1 million for the first time.

Ingram Book followed up on these advances by forming the Ingram Retail Advisory Council, made up of independent booksellers, at the 1977 convention of the American Booksellers Association.

In 1978, the Ingrams rearranged the corporate structure of their holdings, and changed the name of their company from Ingram Corporation to Ingram Industries, Inc.

In 1981, Ingram Book branched out from wholesaling to purchase the John Yokley Company, a commercial printer.

In 1984, Ingram purchased Ohio Barge Line, formerly owned by United States Steel.

In 1985, however, Ingram announced a substantial investment in its petroleum wellhead equipment manufacturer and supplier.

In July 1989, Ingram made another acquisition in the consumer goods field when it purchased Permanent General Companies, Inc. and made it a subsidiary of the Tennessee Insurance Company.

By the end of 1993, Ingram Entertainment's fellow distributor, Ingram Micro, was still contributing a substantial portion of the company's revenues.

On June 15, 1995, E. Bronson Ingram died.

By 1997, it was found at number 113 on the Fortune 500 list.

Today Crounse’s fleet consists of about 35 boats and 1000 barges Steve Little at the Helm In 2007, Steve Little moved the company into its new corporate headquarters, a multi-million dollar LEED certified building, still located in the Paducah hub that George Crounse so coveted.

The newest addition to Crounse’s fleet was delivered April 2010, the last in a series of five new 140-ft 4,000 hp, twin-screw towboats, built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group.

Following Craig's retirement in 2014, Orrin was named CEO of Ingram Barge Co.