Special Exhibits
Granite Rock Company, founded February 14, 1900, is proud of its rich history, which parallels the growth and development of California’s Central Coast. Throughout the years, our family has been inspired by the core values originally established by Arthur Roberts Wilson. With vision, inspiration and remarkable stewardship, his grandson Bruce Wilson Woolpert used these values to build the company into a successful and highly-respected business within the San Francisco and Monterey Bay region.
The company retains a rich collection of photographs and historic documents which span the years. They reveal the stories of the people of Graniterock, who have built an enduring company as they have provided for their families and contributed to their communities.
Graniterock’s Virtual Museum is a compilation of favorites from our collection. Photos and documents from each decade are selected to illustrate important people, locales and events of the time. From time to time, Special Collections will be added to highlight particular eras or interests.
We welcome comments, corrections and additions to our archives. Construction is an essential part of our region's history, and we are glad to be able to share our story with you.
Learn more about Graniterock’s history in the History Brochure and Redwood City History Brochure
Granite Rock Company’s roots lie deep in the history of the central California coast. In fact, its story began more than 200 million years ago, when a mass of molten granite began to push up from the depths of the earth through limestone, sandstone and clay on the bed of an ancient ocean. The granite cooled, contracted and cracked, and was folded, broken, crushed and uplifted as the Pacific Plate slowly drifted north. The fortuitous location of the granite directly upon the San Andreas Fault would ease future mining of this pre-fractured rock.
In 1769 the Portola Expedition camped on the Pajaro River and noted the giant trees with red-hued wood growing nearby, but its granite deposit would not be noticed for another 102 years. In 1871, while plotting the coastal Southern Pacific Railroad near Chittenden Pass, nine miles east of the town of Watsonville, engineers found granite in their path. It was perfect for use as ballast to form railroad beds as track was laid throughout the state.
On the heels of the Gold Rush, adventurous people were arriving in the West looking for a new life. Teenager Joanna McIntyre traveled across the Isthmus of Panama on route from Kentucky, and in California she met and married Enoch Wilson, a San Francisco shopkeeper. They sent their son Arthur to study engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Arthur Roberts Wilson graduated with the MIT class of 1890 and returned to California to begin his career as a construction engineer. He served a term as Oakland City Civil Engineer, and ran Oakland’s Leona Heights Quarry. Meanwhile, in Santa Cruz County, another young man named Warren Porter saw a good business opportunity in the little granite quarry at Aromas. He asked Wilson to join him in buying the quarry, and to operate it as well. A.R. Wilson borrowed $10,000, moved with his wife and children to Watsonville, and incorporated Granite Rock Company on February 14, 1900.
In the beginning, quarry operations were tough. Men used sledgehammers, picks, shovels and wheelbarrows to break and load rock onto horse drawn wagons for the trip to the railroad line. Workers were paid $1.75 per ten-hour day to produce 12 tons of broken rock in sizes of 6 inch and minus. Men slept at the quarry bunkhouse and ate at the cookhouse. Breakfast was served at 5 A.M. – work started at 6 A.M. Relief came in 1903 when the quarry was automated with a steam powered No. 3 McCully crusher. It produced 20 tons of 2 ½ inch rock per hour. The granite was transported from the quarry face in horse-drawn, side-dump rail cars, still loaded by hand.
Then disaster struck. The San Andreas Fault had created the quarry, and now it destroyed what stood in its path. The 1906 Earthquake flattened the new steam crushing plant and put a halt to operations. Train rails were twisted, rail cars overturned, and the quarry operation generally devastated. A.R. Wilson joined the disaster relief effort and hauled all the bread he could find to help San Francisco’s hungry citizens. Fortunately, the earthquake’s devastation created a new demand for construction. Granite Rock Company, with California State Contractor’s License No. 22, built a number of important buildings in San Francisco and around the Monterey Bay area. Among those still standing are the old Gilroy City Hall and the old San Francisco Wells Fargo Building.
As automobiles began to replace the horse and buggy, street paving became a necessity. Granite Rock Company received its first street contract for placement of water bond macadam on Lake Avenue in Watsonville, from Walker Street to the northeast city limits. The total contract, including grading and gutters, amounted to $18,000. 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.
At the Aromas Quarry, a Marion steam shovel was purchased to further mechanize operations, and in 1911 horse drawn carts were replaced with a Porter steam locomotive to haul broken rock from the quarry face to the crusher. Rock was loaded onto wooden sided Western Dump rail cars, and men climbed up to break the big rocks with a sledgehammer. If the rock wouldn’t break, it was dumped for the powder crew to dynamite. At San Francisco’s 1915 Panama Pacific Exhibition, Granite Rock Company won the Gold Ribbon for excellence in crushed rock.
World War I caused freight costs to skyrocket, and as a result local plants were developed so that rock could be sold in small truck lots. Granite Rock Company built bunkers along the railroad from South San Francisco to San Luis Obispo to supply local construction businesses. Construction was booming throughout California, and Granite Rock Company was expanding with the state’s growing needs. 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. In 1918, Granite Rock built the highway connecting Castroville with Moss Landing. Employed on this “Cauliflower Boulevard” job was a worker from Salinas named John Steinbeck.
In 1922, A.R. Wilson became Granite Rock Company president and majority shareholder. Also that year, Wilson founded Granite Construction Company as a separate entity and became its first president. In 1924, Wilson started Central Supply Company, which distributed building materials. Granite Rock Company remained the producer of rock and sand products for construction projects and materials sales. Also in 1922, the 56 year old Wilson, recently widowed, married Anna R. Weiss of St. Louis, Missouri and began to raise a new family. In the meantime, A.R.’s son, A.J. “Jeff” Wilson, assumed the vice-presidency of Granite Rock. All was well until one day when driving home from work at the quarry, A.R. Wilson suffered a massive heart attack and died. His wife Anna, now 43 and with two toddlers to rear, assumed presidency of the company, and Jeff Wilson took over as General Manager. All of this took place just ten days before the stock market crash of 1929.
The Great Depression took a heavy toll on American business, and Granite Rock was no exception. Work was so scarce at the quarry that a whistle was blown to call men in when as little as one car of rock was ordered. The Board of Directors had to ask permission from the Federal Reserve Bank in order to give Christmas bonuses. Unable to offer regular employment, the company made interest free loans to cover medical bills. Struggling to keep its three companies afloat, the Wilson family sold its interest in Granite Construction to Walter Wilkinson and Bert Scott in 1936. South San Francisco, San Jose and San Luis Obispo branches of Central Supply Company were also sold.
However, in the 1930s progress did take place. Central Supply Company opened California’s first asphaltic concrete plant at Aromas, and began California’s first delivery of pre-mixed concrete in tiny dump trucks. This concrete went for projects such as the WPA’s construction of the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. World War II brought new activity to Granite Rock. Materials were needed to build Fort Ord, Camp McQuaide and the Navy airstrip in Watsonville. Many men were away serving in the armed forces and working in war plants, so workers came from Jamaica, and for the first time, if only temporarily, women were employed at the quarry. A new plant was built at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, and excavation of the mining face at the Aromas Quarry brought it down 100 feet, now level with the train tracks. A new primary crushing plant was built at the lower level, with a grand opening in 1946.
By the early 1950s, Jeff Wilson had left Granite Rock and Anna Wilson had retired. Her daughter, Mary Elizabeth (Betsy) Wilson Woolpert, took over as president. Again, it was a time for growth. Wet processing and loading plants were built at Aromas, and new plants were built at Salinas, Felton, Santa Cruz and Los Gatos. Central Supply purchased its first fleet of transit mixer trucks from Ford Motor Company in Salinas. Betsy Woolpert had two young children at home, and turned the company presidency over to her husband, Bruce G. Woolpert.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Granite Rock grew with the tremendous development of the Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas. Central Supply was merged with Granite Rock to form one company for construction materials production and sales, and expansion took place in sand, concrete, asphaltic concrete and building materials operations. Plants were opened in San Jose, Redwood City, Santa Cruz, Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas and Seaside. In step with the times, Graniterock installed its first computer – an IBM System 3. In the 1980s, the company undertook a major investment to completely modernize operations at the quarry in Aromas. First, a giant mobile primary crusher was designed and built – the world’s largest of its kind. Conveyors were installed to carry rock from the primary crusher to a new wash plant and secondary crushers. Finally, an innovative, computer automated truck and rail car loading system was unveiled at the rechristened A.R. Wilson Quarry.
The 1990s brought even more innovation. Graniterock Construction Division quickly became one of California’s premier heavy engineering contractors. New concrete, sand and recycling operations were added to the Graniterock family. But perhaps most significant was a fresh focus on meeting customer needs by providing precise, fast and flexible service. Attention to personal development and the empowerment of Graniterock People also improved quality and customer assistance. Graniterock was recognized for its accomplishments with awards for excellence in management and business practices, most notably in 1992 with the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, the nation’s highest honor for business excellence. Fortune Magazine placed Graniterock on its annual list of the country’s 100 Best Places to Work. Commitment to community service, always a company priority, was expressed in new ways, such as “Pops and Rocks” Independence Day concerts to benefit the United Way, and support of excellence in education in Santa Cruz County public schools.
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. Preparing for a new millennium, expansive corporate offices were opened in Watsonville in 2002, and company sites were added in Oakland, Cupertino and Milpitas. A Graniterock Web site brought information to a new world of customers, and technical innovations were applied in ever more creative ways. During this decade, an impressive array of ground-breaking systems was developed to advance productivity and customer service. The cutting edge GraniteXpress 2 ™ automated truck loading system eliminated customer wait time and provided customers with the benefits of up to the minute quantity and productivity reports at quarry and asphalt locations. A unique sales and invoicing system consolidated invoices across product lines, and quality focused technological research and development delivered contractors and owners the performance results they wanted. Graniterock’s concern for the environment earned awards for community stewardship, and leadership in Green Technology helped solve customer problems in an environmentally friendly way.
Now, still family owned, Graniterock locations extend from Oakland to Monterey. The values of quality, innovation and respect for people which were first established by the Company’s founder, Arthur R. Wilson, continue to lead Graniterock into the future.
Prior to 1900
A quarry along the banks of the Pajaro River was discovered by railroad surveyors in the 1870s and named for Judge Logan, whose ranch was located nearby. The Logan Quarry was operated by a series of owners until purchased by a group of investors, including Arthur R. Wilson, in late 1899. Granite Rock Company was incorporated on February 14, 1900.
1860
A.R. Wilson's mother, Joanna McIntyre, came to California from Kentucky with her mother and two sisters in 1860. They crossed the Isthmus of Panama by train, boarded a steam ship to San Francisco and settled in Sacramento. Though widowed while still in her twenties, Joanna ran a boarding house in Oakland and provided a great education for her two children.
1872
Arthur R. Wilson, born in San Francisco in 1866, and his sister Mary Elizabeth Wilson, born in Helena, Montana in 1870. As an adult, Mary Wilson went on to own and operate the Anna Head School in Berkeley, California. Arthur Wilson became founder, president and principal owner of Granite Rock Company, Granite Construction Company and Central Supply Company.
1880s
Romualdo Pacheco, a colorful and influential Californio (an early Californian of Mexican ancestry) was the uncle of Graniterock founder Arthur R. Wilson. He was an attorney, military officer, politician, diplomat, and mining investor. He is California’s only Governor of Hispanic descent, and is also the only one ever known to have lassoed a grizzly bear! When Wilson’s father died in 1870, Pacheco stepped in to help out as a father figure, sharing with his young nephew a love of horses and sailing and encouraging his interest in mining engineering.
1890
Arthur R. Wilson had this portrait taken upon his graduation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1890. He then returned to California to pursue a career in construction engineering.
1890
Arthur Wilson’s graduation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology was an event that took place over the first three days of June 1890. Classmates included Pierre Samuel du Pont, who managed E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company and General Motors; Sophia Haden Bennett, the first American woman to earn a degree in architecture; solar astronomer George Ellery Hale, who invented the spectroheliograph; and philanthropist Charles Hayden, who founded New York’s Hayden Planetarium.
1895
City of Oakland voting card, Arthur R. Wilson for City Engineer. Arthur Wilson was elected to serve one term as City Engineer. He also managed Leona Heights Quarry in Oakland, and partnered with Kimball G. Easton in a street paving and construction firm known as Easton & Wilson.
1890s Construction
Just before the turn of the century, Arthur Wilson partnered with Kimball G. Easton in an Oakland-based street paving and construction firm known as Easton & Wilson.
1899
Deed and Bill of Sale for the 27 acres of land of Granite Rock Company, formerly owned by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Blohm and by Lucius Sanborn, by H.S. Fletcher to Warren R. Porter, Dec. 20, 1899. The selling price was $10,000.
1900 - 1909
Under A.R. Wilson’s management, the Granite Rock Company grew quickly, expanded and automated its quarry operations, and began to operate as a general contractor throughout the region. The 1906 Earthquake damaged quarry operations but provided new opportunities for construction.
1900
Warren Reynolds Porter, director of Granite Rock Company. Warren Porter was a banker, lumberman and politician who co-founded Granite Rock Company with Arthur R. Wilson He was elected Lieutenant Governor of California in 1906. In 1921, all his stock in Granite Rock Company was lost in the failure of a separate business venture.
1900
Arthur Roberts Wilson. Born in San Francisco in 1866, Arthur Wilson graduated from MIT in 1890 and engaged in a number of business ventures before he co-founded GRC in 1900. He went on to become company president and found Granite Construction Company and Central Supply Company before his death in 1929.
1900 Logan Quarry
Rock was broken with sledge hammers and loaded onto carts by hand for transport to the railroad line. Granite Rock Company’s earliest customer was the Southern Pacific Railroad, which used rock for ballast in the construction of railroad lines.
1900 Logan Quarry
Rock was shoveled into wheelbarrows, then onto carts which were pushed and pulled to the main rail line.
1900 Logan Quarry
Workers loaded rock by hand in sizes of 6 inch and minus.
1900 Logan Quarry
Arthur Wilson kept meticulous records. This payroll entry from March 1, 1900, includes the name of Ambrose Rossi, who worked at the Logan Quarry for more than thirty years.
1901
Wilson Family: Mabel, Ruth and Arthur Jeffrey Wilson. Arthur and Alice Wilson had a young family when Granite Rock Company was founded in 1900.
1903 Logan Quarry
The quarry crew poses for a group photo in front of the new crushing plant. The twenty-six men include A.R. Wilson on rail car in dark suit, and Wing Sing, company cook, in foreground in white. Note carts for bringing rock from quarry at top of plant. Steam powered the crushing, with a 12" or 14" jaw crusher and one #3 crusher.
1904 Logan Quarry
Above the old #5 plant. 28" gauge, 2 yard cars were purchased in 1903, loaded by hand, and pushed by hand to feed crushers at the lower level.
1904 Gilroy
Laying the cornerstone for construction of the Gilroy City Hall. Granite Rock Company quickly became a general contractor for major construction projects throughout the region.
1904 Logan Quarry
The quarry’s steam plant operated the first crusher. Rock was dumped above the plant at quarry level, and gravity fed the crusher at track level below.
1905 Construction
Fred W. Swanton, who founded the Santa Cruz Beach, Cottage and Tent City Corporation in 1903, was an early customer. Granite Rock Company provided building materials for what is now known as the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
1906 Earthquake
The 1906 Earthquake leveled the Logan Quarry crushing plant.
1906 Earthquake
At Chittenden, rail box cars were overturned by the earthquake.
1906 Earthquake
At Chittenden, rail box cars had been loaded with firewood. When the quake overturned the cars, the weight of the wood broke the tops out of the cars and the wood spilled on the ground.
1907 Logan Quarry
Mules pulled carts of rock to the crusher.
1907 Logan Quarry
The Quarry Face. Photo taken on May 2, 1907. Pajaro River in background. Loaded carts of rock were pulled by horse or mule to the top of the plant.
1907 Logan Quarry
Loaded carts of rock were pulled by horse or mule to the top of the plant. 32 mules hauled rock to the crushing plant in 1910.
1909
The Aromas baseball team was sponsored by Granite Rock Company. Left to right, standing: Charlie Quigley, Lee Tobbitt, Dayton Chadwell, Earl Totten, Horace Quigley, Mack Lawrence, Harry Totten. Seated: Dave Stober, Henry Lawrence, Roy Davies, Frank Gill
1909 Logan Quarry
By 1909, a steam powered, coal burning, one and a quarter yard Marion Model 20 shovel automated production. Roy Goodwin is the driver. He was later powder monkey for many years.
1910 - 1919
Granite Rock Company families settled in the Aromas area, adjacent to Logan Quarry, and began employment at Granite Rock Company. They helped to form core company values of excellence in products and customer service, and handed these values down to children and grandchildren who continued on to work at Graniterock.
1910 Logan Quarry
View of the quarry and Pajaro River. #8 plant, with bunker over the railroad tracks for gravity car loading, is in foreground, with #5 plant in background. The pond in the Pajaro River stored water for hydraulics.
1910 Aromas
The Fly Family. Left to right: Sanford Fly, Harry Totten, Asher Fly, Mrs. Asher Fly, Owen Fly. Harry Totten began work at Granite Rock Company in 1910, and had a long career as switch train operator. Sanford Fly, who was hired in March of 1915, worked as a quarry laborer. Owen Fly began work in 1920, at the age of 23. The Sanford brothers worked at the quarry until their retirement in 1955.
1910 Aromas
Anna Totten Wilson, Henry C. Wilson. Anna, widow of Robert L. Totten, was the mother of Earl, Harry, and John Totten, all Granite Rock Company employees. Henry C. Wilson worked for many years as quarry timekeeper.
1910 Watsonville
Arthur Wilson’s family and friends in front of the Wilson home on East Lake Street, Watsonville. Left to right, standing in front: (unknown), Mabel Wilson, Arthur Jeffrey (Jeff) Wilson, Ruth Wilson, Alice Cullen (Mrs. A.R.) Wilson. Alice Wilson died in 1920 and A.R. Wilson remarried in 1922.
1911 Logan Quarry
Model #50 Marion steam shovel. Left to right, standing: (unknown), (unknown), Bob Cozzens, A.R. Wilson, Wing Sing (company cook). This photo shows Bob Cozzens on his first visit to Logan Quarry. He began work with Granite Rock Company in 1911, and remained with the Company over sixty years, eventually serving on the corporate Board of Directors.
1911 Logan Quarry
Dinkey #1. Frank Swearingen on left, Earl Totten on right.
1914 Aromas
Young Albert Snyder in his dad’s new car in front of Marshall’s grocery store
1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a world’s fair held in San Francisco in 1915. The fair was built on the north shore of the city in the area now known as the Marina, and celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal. More importantly, it allowed the city to showcase its recovery from the 1906 Earthquake. Granite Rock Company won the Blue Ribbon Award for excellence in crushed rock.
1916
The first Corporate Office was located on Maple Street, Watsonville, just off Main Street. Charles Blohm, company secretary, at right.
1916 Logan Quarry
Left to right, back row: Louie Stephano, Angelo Rossi, Earl Bonner, Bill Dowell, Antoniani Stephano, Enos Bohnett, Oscar Chadwell, A.R. Wilson
Left to right, middle row: Frank Swearingen, Bert Fly, Johnny Totten, Elmer Marshall, Harry Totten, Tom Cable, Robert Strang, Earl Totten, ? Kelley
Left to right, front row: Roy Goodwin, (unknown), (unknown), Mack Lawrence, Louie Rampone, Henry C. Wilson, Bill Turney, Lawrence Hardy, Dave Swearingen
1917 Construction
Harry Totten and John E. Porter on the Casmalia job. (Granite Rock Company built a road to the Doheny Oil fields with a job near Casmalia, 5 miles from Santa Maria, California.)
1917 Construction
Harry Totten and Bob Cozzens on the Casmalia job. (Granite Rock Company built a road to the Doheny Oil fields with a job near Casmalia, 5 miles from Santa Maria, California.)
1918 Logan Quarry
Marion #20, Granite Rock Company’s first steam shovel.
1918 Construction
Kelley Springfield Asphalt spreader, purchased in 1916, spraying asphalt on the Castroville to Moss Landing Road. Driver in cab is Dan Wilson, Henry Livingston is at rear.
1918
Granite Rock Company paved the Castroville to Moss Landing Road in 1918. This photo is taken across from the old Southern Pacific depot in Castroville. The truck is a Kelly Springfield Asphalt Spreader. Also shown is a fuel oil wagon, asphalt cars and a portable retort-boiler circulating tank. Dan Wilson is on the tank wagon, Henry Livingston on top of the truck.
1919
During WWI, Granite Rock contributed to the war effort by buying $100 bonds for employees K. Lawrence, Henry C. Wilson and R. Goodwin, and $50 bonds for Wing Sing, Lewis Hardy, P. Chiodi, J. Ferulli, Anselmo Antognani, W. H. McDonald, and G. E. Bohnett.
1919 Aromas
The Goodwin Family. Left to right, front row: Jim Goodwin, Norman Goodwin, Gerald Goodwin, Sarah Goodwin
Left to right, back row: Norine Goodwin, Roy “Cocky” Goodwin, Roy Goodwin, Marion Goodwin
1920 - 1929
The 1920s began with growth and ended in profound change. In 1922, Arthur Wilson founded two new companies complementary to Granite Rock Company: Central Supply Company for building materials sales, and Granite Construction Company to handle general construction projects. His son Arthur Jeffrey (Jeff) Wilson joined the management team. A.R.’s wife, Alice, died in 1920. In 1922, A.R. married Anna Weiss, and in 1926 their daughter Mary Elizabeth was born. 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.
1920 Logan Quarry
Posing in front of a Western Side Dump rail car. Left to right: Arthur R. Wilson, Enos Bohnett, (unknown), Frank Swearingen, Mack Lawrence
1920
A.R. and Alice Wilson and family. Left to right: A.R., Ruth, Mabel, Alice and Arthur Jeffrey, known as Jeff. Alice died in 1920. Jeff was hired as Engineer and Assistant Manager in 1923.
1920 Road Construction
This paving train begins at right with an Austin Western fine grade roller, pulling a bulk oil tank with oil heater and sprayer. Graniterock has a similar roller in its antique vehicle collection.
1920 Logan (Wilson) Quarry
The Model #20 Marion Shovel was used to load rock onto wooden sided rail cars. Enos Bohnett is the shovel operator; Frank Swearingen is on the boom.
1920 Logan (Wilson) Quarry
Ladies on an outing at Logan, Freddie Blohm Totten at right.
1922 Community Involvement
“His Middle Name Stands for ‘Roads’”. Watsonville Register cartoonist Wallace MacDougall sketched Arthur R. Wilson for a front page story on March 15, 1922. Wilson was helping to lead an annual membership drive for the Chamber of Commerce.
1922 Logan (Wilson) Quarry
Mack Lawrence, Enos Bohnett and Frank Swearingen on the new Model 50 shovel.
1924 Logan Quarry
Don Sallows and Louis Hardy pose in front of a Dinkey steam engine.
1924 Logan Quarry
Charles Stevens applying high pressure hydraulics to wash away overburden soil so that the underlying granite can be readied for use.
1924 Construction
Wooden bunkers along the railroad tracks stored rock to be sold by the truckload to local customers or used by company construction crews. Ropes, levers, hooks and pulleys operated chutes to release rock to trucks waiting below.
1925 Construction
Hwy 129/Chittenden Road construction began with shovels and brooms to prepare the roadbed. Logan Quarry is visible on the right.
1925 Construction
Teams of horses augmented motorized equipment and hand labor during the Highway 129/Chittendon Road construction.
1925 Construction
Concrete was mixed and poured on the spot for the construction of Highway 129/Chittendon Road. Truckloads of aggregate, visible at left, used wooden slats to measure out rock for mixing.
1925 Construction
Highway 129/Chittendon Road construction took place in the shadow of nearby Logan Quarry, just across the Pajaro River.
1925 Construction
The work crew poses for a photo during the construction of Highway 129/Chittenden Pass Road.
1928
An advertising poster for Granite Rock, Granite Construction and Central Supply boasts a “Complete Chain of Service” from the three sister companies. Granite Construction was sold in 1936 and Central Supply merged into Graniterock in 1969.
1928
Granite Rock Company Business Card: Arthur R. Wilson, President and Manager; A.J. Wilson, Vice-President and Engineer; Chas. E. Bloom, Secretary and Treasurer; John E. Porter, Sales Manager
1928 Road Construction
1928 Road Construction
The McCormick-Deering tractor was modified with an Austin Western Road Grader kit. This grader is a part of Graniterock’s Antique Construction Vehicle collection, housed at Wilson Quarry in Aromas.
1928 Logan (Wilson) Quarry
A.R. Wilson, Mary Elizabeth “Betsy” Wilson and Jeff Wilson’s son, Jeff Wilson Jr., in foreground.
1928
A.R.’s second family: Mary Elizabeth “Betsy” Wilson Woolpert, Anna Rhea Weiss Wilson, Arthur R. Wilson
1929 Obituary, Register-Pajaronian
Arthur R. Wilson died on October 19, 1929.
1930 - 1939
The 1930s were tough years for the entire country, and Granite Rock Company was not spared the hardship of the Great Depression. Work was hard to come by, and the Logan Quarry whistle was blown to call workers in to load as little as one railcar of rock. In 1936, to cover losses on construction of the road to Glacier Point in Yosemite, Anna and Jeff Wilson were forced to sell their interests in Granite Construction, and it become a separate business entity. However, also that year, California’s first asphaltic concrete plant was built by Granite Rock Company, and it began operations at the Logan Quarry.
1930 Logan Quarry
#7 ½ plant and #8 plant and the regrind. The present “old” shop building had not yet been built. Note the redwood trees in front of regrind building. These were watered by Lawrence Hardy. Stiff legged cranes are visible: one on the 8 side (left) and one on the 7 ½ side (right). The line shaft which drove equipment at the 7 ½ plant is just above the conveyor leading to the regrind plant.
1930 Logan Quarry
View of the quarry shops on the left, crushing plant with loaded trains in the distance and leading to the quarry face on the right. Steam shovel is in the right foreground.
1930 Logan Quarry
Close up of the crushing plant with Dinkey steam engine.
1930 Logan Quarry
Ohio Steam Crane. Earl Tohmes is on left, P. Rossi on right.
1930 Construction
Central Supply concrete delivery for the construction of the Corralitos Water Treatment Plant.
1930s Logan Quarry crew
1936 Logan Quarry
Asphalt plant construction. This was California’s first plant for the production of asphaltic concrete.
1936 Logan Asphalt
The brand new asphaltic concrete plant in operation.
1936 Logan Asphalt
Fresh asphalt pours from the chute of the new plant to a truck waiting below.
1936 Logan Asphalt
View of the new plant from the west side, near the railroad line.
1936 Logan Asphalt
The new plant from the north, with the town of Aromas to the southwest in the distance.
1936
Logan Quarry Crew and the Dinkey Steam Engines. Front row, left to right: “Gopher”, Frank Swearingen, Owen Fly, Newt Edgmon, Bert Fly, unkown, Oscar King, Slim Combs, Earl Monford, Ambrose Rossi, Buck Chadwell, (unknown), Roy Nordmeyer, Dave Swearingen, Claude Clark, Sam Allen, Enos Bohnett, Lawrence Hardy, Charlie Stevens, (unknown). Back row, left to right: Sanford Fly, George Wilson, Harry Dillon, Owen Milinich, (unknown), Jim Goodwin, John Matthews, (unknown), Louis Hardy. Standing above: Don Sallows
1936 Watsonville
Celebrating in the Watsonville Fourth of July Parade, Granite Rock employees show off Dinkey Steam Engine #2
1936 Watsonville
Another entry in the Fourth of July Parade. John E. Porter is driving an early rock delivery wagon.
1938
Mary Elizabeth “Betsy”, Anna Ruth “Foofie” and Anna Rhea Wilson. As Granite Rock Company president, Anna Wilson would sign her correspondence “A.R. Wilson”.
1938 Logan Quarry
Left to right: Royal E. Fowles, engineer; S.N. Edgemon, shipping clerk; Frank Swearingen, Supervisor; L. Bandt, carpenter; George Day, plant foreman; Sam Allen, shop foreman
1939 Aromas
Much of the town turned out for the Farm Center Cement Demonstration. Front row, left to right: Paul Denny, Mrs. Devers, Gail Denny, Violet Gardiner, (unknown), Gary Webb, (unknown). Man in dotted tie, center left, is Bud Pawley. Continuing to the right: Mrs. Crouch in hat and striped blouse, Charles Stevens, Helen Webb, Dorothy Asmussen, Mrs. Stevens, Pearl Sallows, (unknown), Mr. Tavernetti, Jim Rowe. Just visible, standing in back to the left: Dayton and Herb Chadwell. Virginia Chadwell is to their right. Standing at far right: Dick Chadwell.
1940 - 1949
The collective effort of World War II brought the nation out of the Great Depression. Many GI’s who had been to California during the war decided to make it home, and by the end of the decade the demand for construction was rapidly increasing. Graniterock kept pace by revamping Logan Quarry operations, lowering the mining face 100 feet and installing a new primary crusher. Jeff Wilson retired from the company, and Betsy Wilson’s new husband, Bruce Gideon Woolpert, came aboard as Chief Engineer.
1940 Logan Quarry
Harry Totten in a main line switch engine.
1942
Everyone joined the war effort. A.R.’s daughter Mabel Wilson Meyers, and her sons Jeffrey, on the left, and George Meyers, whose life was lost in the war.
1945 Logan Quarry
Bringing down the Face. It took six years to lower the face of the quarry from 100 feet above the tracks to even with the railroad line.
1945 Logan Quarry
Roy “Cocky” Goodwin and Lee Purtill.
1945 Logan Quarry
Owen Fly and Lewis Hardy operated the steam shovels. Wages were $2.24 per hour.
1945 Logan Quarry
Bob Bishop and Roy Goodwin, Jr., soon after Bob began his forty year career with Granite Rock Company. Roy started work there in 1936, and continued on through the 1970s. Bob worked as crusher foreman, and Roy was quarry shipping clerk.
1946 Watsonville
USA army surplus steam engine No. 5001, which Granite Rock Company purchased surplus after World War II, being refueled at Watsonville Junction Round House. Oil tank is on back, water tanks on sides. Fire went through the tubes and water flowed around them. Stem dome is large dome on top of boiler.
1946 Watsonville
USA army surplus steam engine No. 5001, retubed at the Watsonville Junction Round House and ready for conversion to Granite Rock Company’s No. 10 Steam Engine. After many years of service at Logan Quarry, this engine was retired, rebuilt and donated to the California Railroad Museum, where it is now in active use.
1946 Logan Quarry
This calendar cover by the B.F. Goodrich Company shows the new Primary Crushing Plant under construction.
1946 Logan Quarry
Easter Sunday, Opening Day for the new Primary Crushing Plant, the quarry’s first primary crusher and a major investment for Granite Rock Company.
1947 Logan Quarry
The quarry face has been brought down to the level of the railroad tracks, and the new primary crusher installed. This aerial photo shows quarry buildings, including the bunk house, cook house and corrals.
1947 Granite Rock Company
Estimated Price List, with company logo: Small Enough to Have Friends, Big Enough to Take Care of Them.
1947 Logan Quarry
2 Yard Dumpcrete concrete delivery truck, in what became the storage area at Logan. “Red House” in background was taken down carefully and became part of the Sunday school building at Aromas Baptist Church.
1947 Aromas
At the Grange Hall in Aromas, the quarry crew met for a company party.
1947 Aromas
The quarry crew poses for a photo outside the Aromas Grange Hall.
1947 Aromas
Arthur Jeffrey “Jeff” Wilson, center, Vice-President and General Manager of Granite Rock Company from 1929 to 1947. A.R. Wilson’s only son, he played an important part in guiding the company through the Great Depression and World War II.
1947 Logan (Wilson) Quarry
Lee Purtill, Quarry superintendent. Electricians had finished the wiring for control panels in the new primary plant.
1948 Logan Asphalt
Asphalt transfer trucks were purchased in 1948 and used until the early 1950s. At that time Granite Rock Company trucking was discontinued, but was reinstituted in 1971.
1948
Mary Elizabeth “Betsy” Wilson graduated from Stanford University and came home to work in the family business. Credit manager Austin Zelmer tutored her in the company’s finances, and quarry superintendent Lee Purtill took her under his wing and taught her the ins and outs of quarry operations.
1948 Christmas party
Betsy Wilson, Bruce Gideon Woolpert and Tony Vjeda at a company Christmas party. Bruce met Betsy while teaching at Stanford, and was hired as Chief Engineer. They married in 1949.
1950 - 1959
Growth and expansion were hallmarks of the 1950s. New materials and equipment were added to meet the construction demands of the Bay Area. Betsy Woolpert took over as President in 1952 upon her mother’s retirement, but with two young sons at home, she turned the job over to her husband Bruce Gideon Woolpert in 1958.
1950 Logan Quarry
This beautiful aerial photo shows Logan Asphalt at the far lower right, Logan Quarry in the center, Chittenden and Soda Lake to the upper right, Highway 129 to the left, and Gilroy in the distance.
1951 Logan Quarry
The crushing plants and rail loadout facilities.
1951 Logan Quarry
New 65 ton General Electric diesel locomotive. Left to right: John Macdonald, plant engineer; F.O. Eckelson, accountant; Bill Taylor, sales manager; Lee Purtill, plant superintendant; Bruce G. Woolpert, chief engineer; Anna R. Wilson, President.
1951 Logan Quarry
The quarry crew gathers in front of the old primary crusher plant. Standing at far right are Lee Purtill and Anna Wilson. Standing in middle row, third and fourth from right are Bruce G. and Betsy Woolpert.
1951 Logan Quarry offices
Bunker for truck loading of baserock, and top of 7 ½ and 8 plants, in the distance.
1951 Logan Quarry
#8 McCully Crusher at #8 plant. The flow of rock was regulated by shoving wooden beams against the door above the crusher.
1951 Logan Quarry
New Bucyrus Erie 85-B Electric Shovel at work, loading a Euclid quarry truck at the Face.
1951 Logan Quarry
Lee Purtill, Roy Moreland and hydraulicking operations for removal of overburden soil, a method that was phased out in the middle of the last century.
1951 Logan Quarry
New Euclid quarry trucks ready for action.
1951 Logan Quarry
Close up of No. 1 washing tower at truck bunkers, and loaded flatbed railcar.
1951 Logan Quarry
General Motors transfer truck being loaded with crushed granite rock.
1951 Logan Quarry
Truck hauling crushed granite rock on 60 foot scales. Logan Asphalt plant is in the background.
1951 Logan Asphalt
Asphalt Plant in operation.
1951 Construction
Baxter “Willie” Wilson, in dark glasses, delivers ready mix concrete to a downtown Salinas job site. Willie delivered concrete from the Salinas Branch for 52 years, retiring in 2002.
1951 Santa Cruz Branch
The Santa Cruz Branch of Central Supply Company and California’s first central mix concrete plant, built in 1924 at Chestnut and Jenne Streets. In the late 1950s, the plant was relocated to a site on 17th Avenue. This photo shows new 3-yard Ford transit mixer trucks, an innovation at the time. The Santa Cruz Branch boasted a fleet of three.
1951 Watsonville Branch
New Central Supply concrete mixer truck.
1952 Salinas Branch
Pouring concrete curb and gutter in the Salinas area. This is a 1950 F6 Ford cab and chassis carrying a 3 ½ yard capacity extended Willard mixer.
1952 Salinas Branch
Salinas branch team and mixer fleet. Left to right: Rodney Hollaway, (unknown), (unknown), (unknown), Willie Wilson, Guy Cole, Tom Blackwell, James “Joe” Henderson, Sally Wasson, J.W. Burns, Snuffy Smith
1952 Logan Quarry
Branch managers at the quarry. Front row, left to right: Art Dresser, Sally Wasson, Ross McMillan. Standing in back, left to right: Les Biersch, Lee Purtill, Don Crawford, Bruce G. Woolpert
1953 Santa Cruz Branch
Chestnut and Jenne Streets and its transit mixer fleet. Standing, left to right: Asistant Manager Herman “Dee” DeCamara, (unknown), Carl Bennett, Larry Bizonett, Les Cain, Shorty Perkins, Bill Van Sandt
1953 Central Supply Company managers
Left to right: Lee Purtill, Art Dresser, Herb Hershman, Bruce G. Woolpert, Merrill Ferree
1955
Granite Rock company letterhead.
1956 Santa Cruz Branch
1944 war surplus all wheel drive International mixer trucks with 5–6 yard capacity mixer drums were added to the original fleet of Ford 3 yard mixers already at work at the Chestnut and Jenne Street plant.
1958 Register-Pajaronian
After ten years in the business, Bruce G. Woolpert succeeded his wife, Mary Elizabeth, as president of the Central Supply and Granite Rock Company. At the time, Central Supply Company had concrete batch plants and building materials yards in Felton, Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Salinas, Alisal, Marina, Seaside and Pacific Grove.
1958 Company party
Corporate Office staff enjoyed a meal served on portable “TV tray” tables, all the rage in 1958. Left to right: (unknown), Doris Johnson, Erma Jo Huett, Violet Gardiner, Emily Jennings, Austin Zelmer
1960 - 1969
1960-1969 Rapid growth of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area continued throughout the 1960s, and Graniterock products were key components of construction projects throughout the area. The addition of a new road materials plant in Redwood City, beginning of quarry modernization at Logan, and changes and additions to plants and operations throughout the rest of the company helped Graniterock keep pace, ready for construction needs fueled by regional transformation that was on the way.
1960 Logan (Wilson) Quarry
Installation of new stacker conveyor system, which replaced quarry haul trucks for transporting rock from the Face.
1961 Salinas Branch
Outside the Central Supply Company office.
1962 Logan Quarry
The Bucyrus Erie electric shovel was replaced with Caterpillar wheel loaders in 1969.
1964 Redwood City Branch
The asphaltic concrete and emulsion plant, soon after it was purchased from Blomquist Oil Service.
1964 Santa Cruz Branch
The yard at 17th Avenue was converted to a precast concrete operation to manufacture 901 breakwater quadrapods. These were used in constructing the ocean inlet at the Santa Cruz Harbor. Each pod weighed 26 tons and used 13.25 cubic yards of concrete.
1965 Logan Asphalt Plant
1965 Logan Quarry
Old Number 10 steam engine on right, with the General Electric diesel engine and aggregate rail cars.
1965 Gilroy Branch
Building materials yard.
1965 San Jose Branch
New storage silos serve the San Jose Concrete plant.
1966 Moss Landing
PG&E power plant construction. 37 concrete mixers, 20 rock and sand trucks, 9 bulk cement trucks and 11 railcars of rock were used. This was Central Supply/Granite Rock Company’s largest concrete pour to date.
1966 Construction
In 1966, Granite Rock Company concrete was used to form the girders for construction of the new Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system.
1968 San Jose Branch
Berryessa Asphalt Plant.
1968 Salinas Branch
This 1944 International, Model M-5H-6, 2 ½ ton, all wheel drive concrete mixer truck is one of ten purchased from the US Navy in 1954. Canvas top cabs were replaced with metal tops, 5-yard and 6-yard Willard brand mixer bodies were installed, and they were used as mixers until the late 1960s. The mixer bodies were then replaced with flat-bed bodies and used to deliver building materials. Graniterock currently has two of these trucks in its antique vehicle collection.
1968 Planning Meeting
At Highlands Inn, Carmel. Front row, left to right: Jim Morgan, Phil Boyle, Harold Beatty, Bernie Reak, Herb Hirschmen, Bob Cozzens. Back row, left to right: Dennis Teasdale, Bruce G. Woolpert, Walter Dutro, Betsy Woolpert, John Kempton.
1968 Logan Quarry
Violet Gardiner and Betsy Woolpert walk together during a companywide tour of operations.
1968 Salinas Branch
Bruce G. Woolpert and Austin Zelmer, at center, listen to an explanation of building materials operations at the Salinas Branch.
1968 Company Party
Austin Zelmer’s retirement. Left to right: Betsy Woolpert, Austin and Sarah Zelmer. Austin was hired as a bookkeeper in 1934, and stayed on for 34 years.
1968 Company Party
Christmas party at Aptos Beach Golf Lodge: Bruce G. Woolpert, Carl Preston, Pete Lambert. Carl was foreman at Logan Quarry, in charge of railcar load out. Pete Lambert was manager of Granite Rock Company’s Olympia Sand Plant, now known as Quail Hollow.
1969 Company Party
Sally Wasson, center, celebrates his retirement as manager of the Salinas Branch, with Bruce G. Woolpert and Bruce Wilson Woolpert.
1969 Logan Quarry
Watsonville High School students pose for a yearbook advertisement with a new International quarry truck. Back row, left to right: Doug Cooper, Bruce W. Woolpert, Janice Manabe, George Bassman, Kathy Travers, Steve Taylor, Trey Ditlevsen, Kathy Hendricksen, Ginny Bachan, Steve Stringari, Janet Culbertson, Ed Mehl, Sue McPike. Front row, left to right: Rick Vessey, Scott Taylor, Dianne Mehl, Carol McGrath
1969 Logan Quarry
The Wet Processing and Loading Plant, which was built in 1954.
1969 Logan Quarry
The “Idaho” plant for producing Class II baserock.
1969 Logan Quarry
The coarse rock surge pile, which fed the old secondary plant.
1969 Logan Quarry
Aerial view of quarry operations.
1969 Logan Quarry
The Bucyrus Erie Electric Shovel, on its last day of operation before being discontinued in 1969.
1969 Santa Cruz Branch
Bill Van Sandt and Bruce W. Woolpert in front of a transit mixer displaying the new Graniterock name and logo, created in 1969. Bill retired in 1990 after 41 years of employment with Graniterock.
1970 - 1979
During the 1970s, Graniterock began a period of transition which would eventually modernize and transform its business to meet the demands of the future. Technologies which had been installed at the beginning of the century were now out of date. The company needed to rethink its processes, invest in and replace old plants and equipment. Graniterock people put their energy and creative resources into the job, and made the company ready for great things to come.
1970 Logan Quarry
Caterpillar wheel loaders were now the machine of choice for removing rock from the quarry face for transport to the crusher. They replaced less efficient electric shovels in 1969.
1970 Logan Quarry
Rail cars and the old secondary crushing plant, which was built in 1910 by A.R. Wilson.
1970 Railcars
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. Rail was then, and remains today, the most environmentally sound and cost effective way to transport aggregate to locations throughout the region. Bruce G. and Betsy Woolpert stand in front of a new car painted with the Graniterock logo.
1970 Corporate Office
Doris Johnson and Kathy Travers Taylor show off a newly installed 757 300 series telephone console, the first one in California. An exciting new feature was its ability to handle conference calls.
1971 Corporate Office
Walker Street and West Lake Avenue offices were modernized with new landscaping and “decorative simulated adobe” fences.
1972 Logan Quarry
1972 San Jose
Returning to the San Jose market area after a thirty-six year hiatus, Graniterock opened a new ready mix plant in 1972 to meet the exploding construction demands of Silicon Valley.
1972 Corporate Office
Betsy Woolpert returned to work at Graniterock when her sons were grown. She established a new Personnel Department and took over as Personnel Manager. 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. This building was jokingly referred to as “The Outhouse”.
1973 Corporate Office
Graniterock management and consultants prepare for a Board of Directors meeting to discuss the Master Plan for a major project to modernize and automate Logan Quarry. Left to right: Geology consultants Gerry Migula and Oliver Bowen; CFO Jack Scripps, Engineering Manager Art Johnson, and VP, Company Operations, Ray Johnson.
1973 Santa Cruz Branch
Fred Boehme, Vice President, Concrete Division, and Bill Van Sandt, Manager, Santa Cruz Branch, pose in front of the newly opened fully automatic Rex wet-dry concrete plant.
1975 Company Picnic
Bruce G. Woolpert and Tom Blackwell enjoy the afternoon at San Benito County’s Bolado Park. Tom started with Granite Rock Company in 1947, and delivered concrete from the Salinas Branch for 36 years.
1975 Company Party
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.
1975 Company Party
At the celebration of 75 years of business, Betsy Woolpert served birthday cake to Mrs. Lee Purtill while their husbands, Graniterock president Bruce G. Woolpert and retiree Lee Purtill, stood by. Lee Purtill had a long career as a manager and superintendent at Logan Quarry, and was hired by Arthur R. Wilson in 1925.
1975 Logan Quarry
Graniterock stacker conveyor system prior to quarry modernization. The system filled overhead bins for truck loadout. This was an early effort to reduce customer gate-to-gate time, which is now automated with GraniteXpress2™.
1975 Logan Quarry
The Wash Plant (square building seen at center of photo) separated ¾ inch and smaller rock and sand into separate sized product piles. Everything larger than ¾ inch size still went to the 1910 Plant for crushing and screening.
1976 San Jose Branch
Graniterock celebrated our nation’s Bicentennial with enthusiastic patriotism.
1979 Watsonville Branch
Betsy Woolpert with Joaquin Sousa, Watsonville Branch driver, soon after she was promoted to Vice-President and General Manager. At this time, women executives were still uncommon. Joaquin drove a truck for Graniterock for twenty-seven years.
1980 - 1989
During the 1980s, Graniterock’s resources went into a decade-long plan to transform the outdated Logan Quarry into a state of the art, fully modernized operation — renamed the A.R. Wilson Quarry in 1989. Beyond the quarry, there were other important changes and additions. 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. In 1986, A.R.’s grandson, Bruce W. Woolpert, joined the Company and ushered in a new approach to Total Quality Management.
1982 Logan Quarry
At the start of the decade, Logan Quarry continued to operate with some plants dating from the beginning of the century.
1984 Logan Quarry
The first step in a decade long modernization of Graniterock’s Logan Quarry was the construction and installation of the Krupp mobile crusher, the world's largest crusher of its kind. It was built in Germany, disassembled, and then shipped to California for reassembly on site.
1984 Logan Quarry
Advancement of women in business was an important theme of the 1980s, and Graniterock was a leader in this arena. A group of women executives from Graniterock’s corporate office view the Krupp crusher installation. Left to right: Norine Kimber, Gloriann Katen, Betsy Woolpert, Yvonne Heritage
1984 Logan Quarry
Krupp crusher installation. Nine engineers arrived from Germany to assist Graniterock Team Members with assembly of the mammoth machine.
1984 Logan Quarry
The Krupp in operation. Loaders feed massive rocks into the primary crusher, and the product travels on a two mile long conveyor to the secondary plant for further processing.
1984 South San Francisco Asphalt
Demand for asphalt was strong in the San Francisco area, and to meet the need, Graniterock added a new hot plant location to its Road Materials Division.
1986 Corporate Office
With a combined seventy-five years between them, Bruce G. and Betsy Woolpert were ready to turn the reigns over to the next generation. Bruce W. Woolpert left his job with Hewlett-Packard Corporation and joined the team at Graniterock. Here, he and Betsy Woolpert confer at the Peninsula Road Materials Branch.
1987 Company Party
Mike and Marie Marheineke congratulate Betsy Woolpert as she celebrates her retirement in December, 1987.
1987 Total Quality Management
New corporate objectives introduced a fresh focus on customer service and quality, along with efficiency, profit, production and financial performance, quality management, safety, community responsibility and people development.
1987 Total Quality Management
In 1987, publications such as Rock Talk, Construction Update and Tuesday Facts provided new ways to share ideas, company stories and accomplishments.
1987 Sales Seminar
At this offsite sales meeting, the volleyball team of “Good White Concrete Crusaders” were victorious over the “Bad Black Asphalt Bombers”. Left to right: Kevin Witzig, Russ Crider, Duane Loftin, Dennis McClanahan, Elmer Winfree, Bill Hilton, Hal Poulin, Mike Martin, Jim Holmquist, Mark Treanor
1987 Logan Quarry
Construction began on a totally new secondary plant at the Logan Quarry, including the GraniteXpress™ 24-hour loadout facility, which automatically loaded trucks with Graniterock aggregate products.
1987 Logan Quarry
A new D10 Caterpillar Tractor Dozer increased mining efficiency at the Quarry’s face.
1988 Peninsula Road Materials
Left to right: Bob Mathiason, Carl Jaco, Dennis Mitchell, and Tim Sharp were members of the growing emulsion spreader truck team at Graniterock’s Peninsula Road Materials.
1989 A.R. Wilson Quarry
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. Here, visitors enjoy Roman the Elephant’s performance in front of the new rinse tower.
1989 A.R. Wilson Quarry
Graniterock volunteers helped prepare for the more than two thousand people who arrived to celebrate the grand opening of A.R. Wilson Quarry. Giok Sih holds a bouquet of balloons for guests.
1989 A.R. Wilson Quarry
The secondary plant installation was completed in September 1989. The new computer controlled crushing and screening plant is one of the most modern in the world.
1989 A.R. Wilson Quarry
The newly unveiled GraniteXpress™ automated system provided computerized automatic truck loadout in less time and with greater accuracy, reducing loadout time from 16 to 7 minutes. This, plus 24-hour availability creates cost savings and convenience for our customers.
1989 A.R. Wilson Quarry
GraniteXpress™ was launched in 1989 with a Performance Trial Contest that helped to illustrate just how efficient and effective the new system could be in providing quality service to our customers.
1989 A.R. Wilson Quarry
A new secondary plant automated and computerized systems to improve quality, productivity and safety. Here, Bill Maguire uses computer monitors to keep an eye on plant operations. Bill retired in 1993 after thirty-one years with the Company.
1989 San Jose Road Materials
Doug Tolbert, Charles Thomas, Eddie Dupee, Rudy Minajares and Bill Larkin get pretty dirty doing bag house maintenance.
1989 Salinas Branch
Joe Gumke presents an award to manager Mike Martin during the Salinas Branch Recognition Day, an annual event in which Team Members of each branch or department discuss improvements they have implemented and recount their accomplishments of the year.
1989 Graniterock
In March of 1989, Graniterock Construction Division was launched as a general engineering and construction division within Graniterock. This roller compacted concrete paving job was one of Graniterock’s first projects. Sanjar Chakamian stands at left.
1989 Peninsula Road Materials
Team Members celebrate 25 years of branch operations during their annual Recognition Day.
1989 San Benito Sand Plant
Left to right: Joel York, Jeff Allen, Bill Nunes, Stan Tarkington, Nancy Lausten and Aaron Gomez, celebrating their commitment to safety, receive an award for ten years without a lost time injury.
1989 Watsonville
Struve Slough Bridge, Highway 1, Watsonville. Rebuilt in only 54 days, significantly ahead of schedule, after the previous bridge was destroyed in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. Graniterock’s Watsonville Concrete Branch worked in close concert with contractor C.C. Meyers on this project.
1990 - 1999
The 1990s celebrated a new era of Total Quality Management. Newly focused Corporate Objectives stressed commitment to safety, quality products, management and customer service, contributions to the community and personal and professional growth along with financial performance. These led to even better performance and innovation which brought business awards and honors throughout the decade. In December 1992, President George H.W. Bush presented Graniterock Team Members with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, our nation’s highest honor for business.
1990 Wilson Quarry
Wilson Quarry Team Members gather to celebrate the “Start of the Golden Nineties”.
1991 Wilson Quarry
In 1991, the first Pops & Rocks 4th of July Concert was held at the A.R. Wilson Quarry. The combined Santa Cruz and Monterey County Symphony Orchestras and spectacular fireworks entertained the crowd. Proceeds were donated to the San Benito County United Way.
1991 Peninsula Road Materials
During their Branch Recognition Day, Charlie Corwell, Carl Jaco and Dennis Hall display their design of The Fab1 and Fab2 construction fabric applicator bar for asphalt spreader trucks.
1992 Santa Cruz Branch Team
Left to right, standing: Ken Nabal, Vince Catalano, Tony Valladao, Jeff Tracey, Manuel Rangel, Hank Papa, Jesse Bush, Hillary Hegland, Larry Wymore, Bruce Robinson. Left to right, kneeling: Dick Mann, Mike Chernetsky, Donnie Birt, Carl Wolters, Manuel Garcia, Bill Bird, Alan Minville
1992 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Presentation President
George H.W. Bush and Secretary of Commerce Barbara Franklin present the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to Graniterock in December, 1992 during an awards ceremony at the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
This logo celebrates Graniterock’s world class accomplishments, business excellence, and commitment to quality products and customer service.
1992 Washington D.C. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Graniterock People gather on stage at the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., to join in acceptance of the award. Left to right: Sanjar Chakamian, Jim Holmquist, Dave Bachan, Bruce W. Woolpert, Rita Alves, Ricki Mancebo, Liz Woolpert, Gene Feise, David Flowerday, Bruce G. Woolpert, Shirley Ow, Val Verutti, Glorianne Katen; standing above: Norm Smith
1993 National Quality Conference
Graniterock was invited to share its story at the National Quality Conference held in Washington, D.C. Janice Shaffer and Greg Diehl staffed the Graniterock information booth.
1994 California State Quality Award
Graniterock Team Members gather in Sacramento with the 1994 California State Quality Award presented by Governor Pete Wilson. Left to right, kneeling in front: Jack Leemaster, Dick Kreiter, Bruce G. Woolpert, Bruce W. Woolpert, Roy Harrison, Greg Tedesco, Roger Swenson, Bruce Reichers, Aaron Gomez, Mark Treanor. Left to right, standing: Rose Ann Woolpert, Greg Diehl, Sanjar Chakamian, Shirley Ow, Paul Bush, Norine Kimber, Tana Rutan, Laura Junod, Janet Erickson, Eloise Mills, Val Verutti, Mary Edgely, Laura Harvey, Terri Foster, Hal Poulin, Rita Alves, Jan Mendence, Bill Goodson, Doug Tolbert and Gordon Jacobsen
1994 Graniterock Construction Division
Graniterock’s construction division completed the paving of Stanford University’s Palm Drive on time and ahead of schedule in 1994. This award winning project completed the design made by architect Frederick Law Holmstead over 100 years prior.
1994 Company Party
Graniterock families sing Christmas carols at a Pajaro Dunes holiday lunch in 1994. Left to right, standing at back: Santa Claus, Bruce W. Woolpert, Arthur Woolpert, Besty Woolpert, Phil Berghausen, Dave Francheschi, Shirley Ow, Hal Poulin
1995 Peninsula Concrete
Terri Galvan and Tom Moran discuss customer requirements for the day ahead.
1995 Salinas Branch
Bill Pengally, center, and Willie Wilson, center left, celebrating Willie’s 50th Anniversary with Graniterock on the jobsite with customers and friends. Willie delivered more than 350,000 yards of concrete over his career with the Company.
1995 Wilson Quarry
Dave Franceschi examines the first overburden soil transported by the A.R. Wilson Overburden Conveyor System in September 1995. This small pile represented a huge accomplishment.
1990s Graniterock
Devil’s Slide Highway repair. During a season of heavy rainfall, a section of Highway 1 halfway between Half Moon Bay and Pacifica slid into the Pacific Ocean. Graniterock Construction Divison completed the repair job and won a California Associated General Contractors Award for its work on the project.
1995 Graniterock Construction Division
Bruce W. Woolpert, Marlin Murray, Steve Moore and Dick Kreiter accepted an award from AGC of California for Graniterock’s work on the Devil’s Slide Highway 1 repair project.
1996 Pico Blanco
Morey and Lydia Alsop spent over thirty years living and working at Graniterock’s Pico Blanco property near Big Sur. They built roads into the rugged territory of the Santa Lucia Mountains to access the limestone deposit of Pico Blanco. In this photo, Bruce G. Woolpert and Morey Alsop stand in front of the road to Pico Blanco.
1996 Corporate Office
Cathy Gracia, Marlene Barracca, Vicki Wilson, Greg Diehl and Joan Nessler enjoy the sunshine outside the Corporate Office on Walker Street during a lunchtime celebration of the Company’s 96th Birthday.
Contractor’s EXPO
Graniterock began to hold Contractor EXPOs to provide business seminars, product information and support for our customers and for architects. Mike Marheinke shows visitor Arthur Woolpert a model truck as Don Barrett, Dan Slavin and Dave McAuley look on.
1996 Wilson Quarry
The A.R. Wilson Quarry after hours security team. Left to right: Clarence Thomas, Bernie Ibarra, Steve Ausmus and Tony Korba
1997 Wilson Quarry
Kids became regular visitors to Wilson Quarry and other Graniterock locations as educational programs and career days were offered to students throughout the region.
1997 California State Railroad Museum
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.
2000 - 2009
Graniterock Wins National Safety Award
At the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA) Annual Conference awards ceremony, Graniterock accepted the NSSGA “Rocky” Safety award on behalf of the A.R. Wilson Quarry. The award was for having the best safety performance among U.S. quarry operations producing more than 1.5 millions tons of product annually. The A.R. Wilson Quarry Team worked an entire year with zero lost-time injuries.
9/11 Attacks
2977 victims were killed in the attacks. Graniterock donated $20,000 to families affected.
Graniterock Wins Quality In Construction Award - Local Firm Recognized for SFO Runway Project
The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) announced that Graniterock’s Construction Division of Redwood City, California has won The Quality in Construction Award for excellence in construction of an asphalt pavement. The company received its award at a special ceremony at the Association’s 49th Annual Convention in Phoenix, Arizona.
Graniterock’s Construction Division won the award for its outstanding work on San Francisco International Airport Runway 1R-19L Overlay Project. In addition to the operational challenges, heightened safety and security regulations made the job particularly difficult to schedule. The paving operation was completed in less time than was available despite the very tight scheduled.
Hurricane Katrina Relief
Graniterock People and the company have donated $12,204; the Company matched employee contributions dollar-for-dollar for a total contribution of $24,408.
Graniterock People will take this opportunity to go through closets and donate clothing, toys, stuffed animals, household items, blankets, towels, diapers, and school supplies.
Design Center Opens in Cupertino
The creation of a beautiful design center in Cupertino allows customers to be able to see a fabulous display of the wonders that nature provides in natural stone. Graniterock provides expert advice and materials for finishing customer projects for a long lasting and satisfying natural stone appearance. Opening October 14 2005.
Local Company Hosts Rock&Run to Benefit Aromas School
Graniterock and the Aromas Home and School Club welcome runners and walkers of all ages to come and enjoy a unique quarry setting while raising money to make a great school better. Over 70 participants helped raise more than $1,500 for the Aromas School.
Graniterock Building Materials Grand Opening
Graniterock is proud to announce the grand opening of its Monterey Peninsula Building Materials Store in Seaside. The new building is located in Seaside opened on September 21, 2007.
2008 Recession
2010 - 2019
Local Company Hosts Wag ’n’ Walk To Benefit Pet Friends
Graniterock and Pet Friends of Hollister have teamed up for a unique pair of events on Saturday, June 12, 2010, at the Graniterock Southside Sand and Gravel location. The day will begin with a 5K Fun Run/Walk and end with an Open House.
Algebra Academy
Last fall, Graniterock President and CEO, Bruce W. Woolpert, and Assistant General Counsel, Kevin Jeffery, introduced Rolling Hills principal Rick Ito to CSUMB Math Department Chair Dr. Hongde Hu and Community Relations Officer Jennifer Martinez. After a series of brainstorming sessions, this Team decided the best way they could support Rolling Hills students was to conduct an intensive six-day, hands-on “academy,” focused on algebra. Educators at CSUMB and Rolling Hills agreed that accelerating the students’ understanding of algebra would provide them with the skills and confidence to succeed in math in high school and college.
Graniterock Launches New iPhone App Version 2.0
Graniterock released a new mobile application (app) allowing Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users to access a broad range of construction materials calculators.
Graniterock’s Chairman, President & CEO Passes Away
On Sunday, June 24, 2012, a tragic accident took the life of Graniterock’s Chairman, President & CEO, Bruce W. Woolpert. The Board of Directors and the Woolpert Family have implemented the succession plan developed by the Company. The first step of the plan is that Mark Kaminski, a long-time member of Graniterock’s Board of Directors, is now Chairman of the Board and acting CEO. The Woolpert Family has complete confidence in the current Management Team and Graniterock Team Members and plans to continue operating the Company for another 112 successful years.
Graniterock Selects New President and CEO
The Graniterock Board of Directors has completed its work in implementing the Company’s succession plan following the untimely death of former President and CEO Bruce W. Woolpert. On Saturday, July 21, 2012, the Company’s Board elected current Vice President and General Counsel Tom Squeri to serve as Graniterock's new President and CEO. The Board and the Woolpert family felt very strongly that the next generation of leadership must be selected from inside the Company, to ensure that the Company’s 112-year old culture and values are preserved. Mr. Squeri exemplifies the Company’s core values, and his primary accountability will be to carry the Graniterock culture forward.
Graniterock acquires FMG
On April 30, 2014, FMG was acquired by Graniterock, a company that was founded more than a century ago. Both companies corporate culture are closely aligned. FMG will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Graniterock using the FMG name and continue its tradition of providing top quality asphalt milling, grinding, pulverizing, and cold in-place recycling.
Caltrans names Graniterock one of the best in California
Graniterock is proud to win Best in Class for all Caltrans projects $10 million-$50 million. The Company achieved the state’s gold Excellence in Partnering Award for the Highway 17 wet pavement correction project that started at the summit and went to Los Gatos.
Caltrans and the Construction Industry are committed to making partnering the way we do business. Partnering promotes open and honest communication, trust, understanding and teamwork. The field guide is written for both Caltrans and contractor personnel working at the project level to convey Caltrans and industry commitment to partnering, to define responsibilities for partnering, and to provide tools for successful partnering.
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
In December 1992, Graniterock was awarded our nation’s highest honor for business excellence, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Thirty-three Graniterock Team Members travelled to Washington, D.C. to attend the award ceremony held by the United States Department of Commerce. 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. These photos from our Company archives convey some of the pride, fun and excitement they experienced. The beautiful Steuben Glass crystal award is on display in the lobby of Graniterock’s Corporate Office in Watsonville.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Graniterock Team Members walk from the historic Willard Hotel to the Department of Commerce for the Awards Ceremony, December 14, 1992. Left to right: Janice Shaffer, Jim Holmquist, Ron Huckaby, Dan Patterson, Jack Leemaster, Ricki Mancebo, Henry Ramirez, Wes Clark, Duane Loftin, Dennis Rabe, Rita Alves, Sanjar Chakamian and Carol Ilse
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Team Members walk from the historic Willard Hotel to the Department of Commerce for the Awards Ceremony, December 14, 1992. Left to right: Rose Ann Woolpert, Norm Smith, Willie McCaskill, Shirley Ow, Ricki Mancebo, Dennis Rabe, Henry Ramirez
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Team Members walk from the hotel to the Department of Commerce building for the Awards Ceremony, December 14, 1992. Left to right: Mike Marheineke, Henry Ramirez, Betsy Woolpert
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Team Members wait in line for entrance to the Awards Ceremony at the Department of Commerce. Left to right: Reuben Flores, Norm Smith, Jim Holmquist, Wes Clark, Duane Loftin, Gene Feise, Rita Alves, Greg Diehl, David Flowerday, Carol Isle, Sanjar Chakamian
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Inside the beautiful Department of Commerce auditorium, representatives of the media and attendees from the winning companies gather for the Awards Ceremony.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Eagerly awaiting the Awards Ceremony at the Department of Commerce. Left to right, seated: Mike Marheineke, Rose Ann Woolpert, Liz Dini, Ricki Mancebo, Gene Feise, Gloriann Katen, David Flowerday, Sanjar Chakamian, Rita Alves. From right, standing: Greg Diehl, Janice Shaffer, Jack Leemaster
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Val Verutti developed Graniterock’s Research and Technical Services Laboratory. His attention to detail and commitment to quality processes were crucial to making Graniterock’s Baldrige Application an award winner.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Bruce W. Woolpert meets with Commerce Secretary Barbara Franklin and representatives of other winning companies before the Awards Ceremony. 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.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
President George H. W. Bush addresses the audience at the Department of Commerce. 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.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Bruce W. Woolpert accepts the Award from President George H. W. Bush and Secretary of Commerce Barbara Franklin on behalf of Graniterock Team Members.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Bruce W. Woolpert beams with “Graniterock Pride” as he displays the Award letter at the Department of Commerce Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Bruce W. Woolpert and Greg Diehl are jubilant after the ceremony as they await a celebratory luncheon. Greg was Graniterock’s Press Manager during the Award Events.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
While in our nation’s Capitol, Graniterock Team Members visited historic sites such as George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Jim Holmquist poses in front of a space capsule at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award
Dennis Rabe, Ricki Mancebo and Norm Smith enjoy dessert after a celebratory dinner at Washington D.C.’s old Grand Central Station.
1993 National Quest for Excellence Conference
Paul Bush, Rita Alves, Sanjar Chakamian, Ricki Mancebo, Hal Poulin, Bill Damm and Jack Leemaster were among those who presented Graniterock’s story to the audience attending the Quest for Excellence conference in March 1993.
1993 National Quest for Excellence Conference
Sanjar Chakamian, Jack Leemaster, Greg Diehl, Hal Poulin and Dave Franceschi answer questions from the audience at the Quest for Excellence conference.
Steam Engines at Logan (A.R. Wilson) Quarry
Graniterock has used railway locomotives for production and transport of its products throughout the Company’s long history. From 1911 until 1948, steam engines were in regular use at the A.R. Wilson Quarry, then known as Logan Quarry. This collection of photos shows eight of our ten steam engines and illustrates how the quarry’s train operation worked.
1911 Logan Quarry
Dinkey Number One, Granite Rock Company’s first narrow gauge, 18 ton, 0-4-0 Porter steam locomotive, was purchased in 1911 along with 4 cubic yard sidedump cars. Frank Swearingen sits at left, Earl Totten on the right.
1913 Logan Quarry
Dinkey Number Two, which was purchased in 1913, and Western Dump cars stand at the top of the chute of the #8 plant. When loaded, the train was backed to the dump. Brakemen rode on the front of the engine and the dumping crew unloaded the cars. This train is dumping its last car into the grizzly chute.
1920s Logan Quarry
Western Dump rail cars. Men are using a “cheater” to dump a narrow gauge four wheel dump car at the crusher chute. When extra leverage was needed to dump the small cars, the wooden cheater was placed at an angle between the ties and the car body. As the train advanced the cheater would come to an upright position and at the same time force the car body upward until it overbalanced and dumped.
1940 Logan Quarry
Dinkey Number Four. Granite Rock Company narrow gauge engine Number Four, taking on water about 1940. This was another Porter 18 ton 0-4-0 steam engine, built in Pennsylvania in 1916.
1920 Logan Quarry
Dinkey Number Five. 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.
1928 Logan Quarry
Dinkey Number Six. Harry Totten is at the controls of the Number Six engine, 64 ton 0-6-0 Porter standard gauge steam locomotive.
1925 Logan Quarry
A steam engine “coming ’round the corner” at Logan. Roy “Cocky” Goodwin and his family lived in the white house on the left. His son, Roy Goodwin, was shipping clerk at the quarry for many years.
1942 Logan Quarry
Dinkey Number Eight. This 19 ½ ton American Locomotive Company/Rogers Locomotive Works narrow gauge steam engine was built in 1913 in Paterson, New Jersey. It was purchased used from Old Mission Cement Company of San Juan Bautista in 1942.
1975 Publication: Granite Rock Company Railroad Operations, by H.W. Fabing
This illustration from a booklet published by the Western Railroader and Railfan, shows how rail tracks were set up at the quarry during the 1930s and ’40s.
1939 Logan Quarry
Dinkey Number Nine. 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.
1945 Watsonville
USA army surplus steam engine No. 5001 was transformed into Granite Rock Company Engine Number Ten, purchased surplus after W.W.II. A 50 ton, 0-6-0 Porter locomotive, it is shown here as it is refueled at Watsonville Junction round house. The oil tank is on back, water tanks on the sides. The stem dome is the large dome on top of the boiler. Fire went through the tubes and water flowed around them.
1997 California State Railroad Museum
Graniterock CEO Bruce W. Woolpert restored Engine Number Ten to working order for use at the railroad museum in Sacramento. It remains there today, used to transport passengers on the Sacramento Southern Railroad.
Historical Vehicle Fleet
View or download the 1925 Fordson Tractor , 1928 Antique Dump Truck (Model AA) History or the 1950 Antique Concrete Mixer History brochures (requires Adobe Reader )
1928 Antique Dump Truck (Model AA) History
This is the first Model AA and replaced the Model TT.
- Weight empty: 3,500 pounds
- Load capacity 1.5 yards, 2 tons
- 131 inch wheelbase
- 20 inch wheels
Approximately 5,000,000 Model As and AAs were made.
- Wood-frame steel body cab safety-glass
- Windshield opens for ventilation
- Hand operated windshield wiper (driver’s side only)
- Hand operated dump body (crank on helper’s side)
Advertised in 1928 as “…ample room for a driver and two helpers.”
- Cost of Ford AA cab & chassis in 1928: $610
- Cost of dump body & hand operated hydraulic hoist in 1928: $175
1928 Antique Dump Truck (Model AA) History
1928 Model AA* Heavy Duty Ford Truck
- 4 cylinder 200 cubic inch engine
- 4.2:1 compression
- 40 break HP @ 2200 RPM
- 128 foot-pounds of torque @ 1000 RPM
- Engine oiling is pump,splash & gravity system
- Three-speed transmission and dual-drive auxiliary transmission: 6 forward and 2 reverse speeds
- 6 volt electric or hand-crank engine starting
- Mechanically actuated brakes
- Front shocks only
* Ford’s Model AA Truck was the heavy duty version of the Model A car and pick-up truck
1928 Antique Dump Truck (Model AA) History
1928 Antique Dump Truck (Model AA) History
1950 Antique Concrete Mixer History
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
- First all-new post-war truck design from Ford–the beginning of Ford’s “F-Series Trucks.”
- Advertised as the “Million Dollar Cab”– wider cabs with larger doors, more head room and leg room, better visibility and better ventilation.
- A new “floating” driver’s seat (coil spring with hydraulic shock absorber) to improve the ride.
1950 Antique Concrete Mixer History
Flathead V8 Engine
- Advertised in 1950 as having a “Top Speed of 51 mph”
- 239.4 cubic inch Flathead V8
- 100 hp @ 3600 rpm
- 180 ft lbs torque @ 2000 rpm
- 4-speed transmission, 2-speed axel
Willard Concrete Mixer
- Mixing capacity: 2-yards @ 8–12 rpm
- Agitating capacity: 2½-yards @ 2–5 rpm
- Drum driven by truck motor via Power Take Off (PTO) and chain, 18 gallon water tank
1950 Antique Concrete Mixer History
Historical transit mixer and modern mixer