The Legend of McCarthy
By Jeffrey L. Rodengen
- Release Date: 2003-04-15
- Genre: U.S. History
Description
In The Legend of McCarthy, authors Jeffrey L. Rodengen and Richard F. Hubbard reveal how intelligence, innovation, integrity, and hard work have built a tiny, family-owned business into one of the most successful construction businesses in America.
The history of McCarthy Building Companies is as rich as they come. The company’s deep roots reach back to the Civil War era, when Timothy McCarthy began a small business in Ann Arbor, Michigan, building farmhouses and barns. For three subsequent generations, the company was owned and run by the McCarthy family, and each generation kept up the traditions and values of its predecessors.
McCarthy expanded into new geographical areas and took on increasingly more diverse and complex projects when Timothy’s sons took over the company and moved it to St. Louis. Soon McCarthy gained expertise constructing government buildings, churches, and other large public works projects. During the Great Depression and World War II, McCarthy built in such faraway places as the Panama Canal Zone and Alaska, and by the 1950s was building throughout the Midwest. McCarthy became even more diverse in subsequent decades, becoming a leader and innovator in the healthcare, education, civil, laboratory, parking structure, and bridge markets while taking its community-based business model to new arenas.
More than anything, though, the story of McCarthy demonstrates what can happen when perseverance, passion, and smart people come together. The result is a nationwide reputation for quality and old-fashioned integrity—values that continue with the company’s transition from a family-owned business to an employee-owned one.
This enhanced eBook features embedded audio quotes from executives, retirees, and key stakeholders who were interviewed during the research for this book.
