Turner International history

Despite those decades of continuous westward pushing of the frontier line, it was not until the conclusion of the War of 1812 that the westward movement became a significant outpouring of people across the continent.

Turner Construction's influential founder, Henry Chandlee Turner, was born in Maryland in 1871.

He began his teaching career at the University of Wisconsin in 1889.

Turner first detailed his own interpretation of American history in his justly famous paper, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” delivered at a meeting of historians in Chicago in 1893 and published many times thereafter.

Turner Construction Company was founded in New York City in 1902 by Henry Chandlee Turner, a civil engineering graduate of Philadelphia’s Swarthmore College who brought a patented concrete reinforcing technique to the New York market.

1903: Turner Construction begins building staircases and platforms for New York City's subway system.

In 1904, his company built the Gair Building in Brooklyn, the largest reinforced concrete building in the United States at the time.

Branch offices were established to help the company maintain its expanding geographic scope of operations, beginning with the opening of an office in Philadelphia in 1907.

To fill the leadership void, the company turned to Henry Turner's eldest son, Henry Chandlee (Chan) Turner, Jr., who had worked for the company since being graduated from Swarthmore in 1923.

Contracts in the Midwest for clients such as the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company and American Can Company led to the creation of an office in Chicago in 1926.

Like virtually every industry throughout the country, the construction business suffered severely during the economic collapse that began in 1929.

The construction of new buildings came to a halt, causing Turner Construction's volume to plunge to $2.5 million by 1933.

In October 1946, Henry Turner retired as chairman, handing the post to his ailing brother.

1952: As part of a four-contractor team, Turner Construction builds the United Nations Secretariat building.

Becoming a public company in 1969, a listing was established on the American Stock

A Swarthmore graduate, Howard Turner was appointed chairman in 1970 upon Chan Turner's retirement.

In 1972, Turner Construction' presence on Wall Street gained wider exposure when the company's stock began trading on the American Stock Exchange.

Howard Turner, the last Turner to hold a senior management position at the company, served as chairman until 1978, when his successor, Walter B. Shaw, Turner Construction's president for the previous eight years, assumed the duties of chairman.

In 1984, The Turner Corporation was formed as a holding company.

Although McNeill was credited with staving off more profound trouble, the holding company did not begin to recover until his successor, Ellis T. Gravette, took over after McNeill's resignation in 1996.

In September 1999, Turner was acquired by HOCHTIEF AG, Germany’s largest construction firm and one of the world’s leading construction companies.

With record construction volume of $6.3 billion in 2001, The Turner Corporation ranks first in most major segments of the building construction industry.