HISTORY

 

In 1897, Patrick F. McCarthy, an immigrant from Kilkee, County Clare, Ireland, founded the McCarthy Stone Company.   In 1903, this company was incorporated and was renamed McCarthy Improvement Company shortly thereafter.   In 1904, the first asphalt paving put down by the company was laid on Main Street in Davenport, IA.

By the early 1920s, McCarthy employed over 500 people during the peak of the construction season, and had developed a reputation for performing quality work.   During the '30s, the company primarily worked Lock and Dam contracts in Iowa and Minnesota.   In the '40s, they continued with water-related construction projects, building the $3.5 million Santee-Cooper Dam near Charleston, S.C. and the Fort Randall Dam project in Yankton, S.D., an $11 million contract.

In the '60s, the company returned to road paving, working on the Illinois Tollway and sections of Interstates 57, 74, 80 and 235.

In 1982, John L. Bush and his wife, Patricia (granddaughter of company founder Patrick McCarthy), acquired a major holding of McCarthy Improvement Co. stock and assumed corporate leadership.

In the 80's, the company's business continued to expand as they re-paved the air strips at U.S. Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota.   Other notable projects followed: runways and taxiways at the Nashville, TN International Airport, the Quad-City Airport, the Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, GA and the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, as well as an intermodal facility in Austell, GA.

In 2002, the company opened a new Southeast Division in North Carolina to meet the heavy-highway demands of the southern market, and further expanded in 2006 by opening an office in Georgia.  

McCarthy Improvement continues to pave airports and interstates in the midwest, southeast and southwest. Locally, it has expanded to meet a growing commercial market with specialized paving needs.   It continues to pursue the visionary outlook that made Patrick McCarthy's dreams mature.


Jefferson ByPass, Fall 2002

Photo courtesy of The Jackson Herald.