Granite Construction Company’s foundations lie in the lure and promise of the Wild West during the 1800s. Risking life and limb for fortune, tens of thousands of wildcatters flooded California bringing on the great Gold Rush during the mid-1800s. When the Transcontinental Railroad connected California with the rest of the nation in 1869, agricultural visionaries in Santa Cruz County began exploring ways to link into this vast rail system. While doing so, an unexpected discovery was found in the earth: granite.

Granite is a combination of quartz and feldspar grains that have been slowly fused together over time. Quartz offers strength, luster and the glue that holds the material together, while feldspar brings color and a resistance to discoloration. Combined, quartz and feldspar are stronger than steel. 

Cities like San Francisco and towns like Watsonville, CA, began planning their futures on granite foundations. The aggregate was in high demand. Wildcatters of another sort began speculating on granite rather than gold.

The discovery of granite near Watsonville created opportunity for a rail line leading to a new quarry on Judge James Harvey Logan’s ranch and the Pajaro River. The original quarry owners later lost the property to a local bank, and when that happened, three forward-thinking men saw an opportunity. John T. Porter, his son Warren and A. R. Wilson partnered to buy the Logan Quarry. In 1900, the men formed the Granite Rock Company. 

The Logan Quarry employed 15 men who were paid $1.75 per day for 10-hour, back-breaking shifts swinging sledgehammers and picks. Employment in the quarry also included room and board, but there was nothing lush about the accommodations. Shower stalls consisted of a hose and bucket of water heated by a kettle. 

Granite Rock produced about 175 tons per day, but the company struggled in its infancy. A contract to build a Carnegie Library in Watsonville in 1903, with a winning bid of $11,290, helped overcome the deficits inherent in the business. 

In the earthquake’s aftermath, more than 3,000 people were killed and 225,000 left homeless. Logan Quarry suffered damage, and its wreckage would take much time to untangle, but first things first: Wilson bought bread in Watsonville, and headed to San Francisco to help. Quarry workers turned into relief workers, helping to remove debris in order to get the area on its feet again. 

The need to reconstruct created a heavy demand back at the quarry. Returning workers found that the quake, despite its damage, had actually done them a favor. Huge rocks had dislodged and fell on the quarry floor, shattering into manageable fragments of granite, just the high-quality building material that was in urgent demand.
 
 

Although it would be 16 years before Granite Construction Company was officially created by the Granite Rock Company, the foundation of the firm had been laid.

In the years that followed the first construction projects, Granite Rock took on bigger initiatives, including the Santa Cruz courthouse annex and the Monterey Odd Fellows building. Simultaneously, roadwork began to grow at the company, thanks to the “Get Out of the Mud” acts that set in motion a program of road and sidewalk building. Though Granite would build a number of roads around Watsonville, the core of the company remained its aggregate business. 

Around this time, a 16-year-old named John Steinbeck earned $2.75 a day working on a Granite  Rock project between Moss Landing and Castroville. Later, the famed Grapes of Wrath writer would go on to write poetic passages about roads. Steinbeck never wrote specifically about Granite, though a Granite Rock supervisor was quoted saying he believed that the Of Mice and Men character Lenny was based on someone Steinbeck met working on the roads.

Granite Rock’s payroll grew from 24 men in its infancy to 110 by 1909. The company continued to grow, and each new project brought a new challenge—and often, new equipment.

Twenty percent of the nation’s production shifted to wartime needs. The War Industries Board determined priorities and could co-opt plants for federal needs. 

While Granite Rock’s operations weren’t directly affected, there were challenges related to supplying the construction business. Small orders were needed, and the only way to transport them was by railcar. The company built bunkers along the rail line so that rock could be sold by the truckload to local customers or used for its own construction needs.

The war brought co-owner Warren Porter an opportunity—of misfortune. Butter shortages were common during the war and Porter entered a speculative venture with Java Coconut Oil Company. When the war ended, the market for margarine dried up. The joint venture left Porter indebted to the coconut oil company, which assumed his interest in Granite Rock.

With business strong, Wilson and Porter wanted to move its construction arm into a wholly-owned subsidiary rather than a part of Granite Rock. Walter J. Wilkinson was tapped to head up the new venture called Granite Construction Company. Wilkinson had joined Granite Rock a year after the company’s founding and had eventually become the superintendent of construction. Those who worked with him say that Wilkinson was a visionary. His cost estimates were detailed, including hay for the horses, and his time estimates were usually on the money. 

Arthur Wilson bought all contracting equipment from Granite Rock for the sum of $29,180.39. The company set up shop in a tool shed at Logan Quarry and opened for business. 

Granite Rock, Granite Construction and a related material supplier, Central Supply Company, shared a symbiotic relationship in the early days. The Twenties were roaring and so were the various Granite enterprises.

Wilson had purchased Warren Porter’s interest in Granite Rock from Java Coconut Oil in 1928 and was the majority shareholder and president. Driving to a quarry on an October day in 1929, Wilson was overcome with dizziness and flagged down a passing vehicle to take him home. A doctor rushed to the house and diagnosed a heart attack. By the early morning hours of the next day, the founder of Granite Rock and Granite Construction was dead. His young wife Anna, whom he had married just seven years earlier, inherited the businesses.

The day he died, the stock market began a downward slide, which culminated 10 days later in the Great Crash of 1929. That ushered in one of the greatest economic challenges in history: the Great Depression. 

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates in hopes of cooling down the stock market; higher interest rates led to less construction, which was also reeling from an excess supply of housing thanks to a building boom in 1928. While the American economy was struggling, construction took an especially heavy blow.

In 1930, work began on Hoover Dam, a $48 million project awarded to a consortium of six construction firms, but hard times quickly followed. By the end of 1932, Granite salaries were cut by 10 percent. The company continued to invest in equipment as it attempted to keep its crews working.

By 1933 unemployment was soaring, reaching 25 percent. Happy to have jobs, Granite employees were willing to carry double and triple duties. Ted Taylor, a 40-year employee who joined Granite Construction in 1930, recalled, “I was doing three men’s work, working long hours, nights, because we had to make it with the least amount of expense. I was a timekeeper, manager, superintendent, engineer and everything.”

But hope was on the horizon. Granite Construction won a low-bid contract to build the first roads into Yosemite Park, a project that breathed excitement into the company. “Everybody was elated,” said George Wagner, another longtime employee. “Most of us were fishermen and hunters. We couldn’t wait to get there.” 

Then, as it would happen, they couldn’t wait to get out.

During the Great Depression, nearly a quarter of all Americans were without a job; some were without food. To help spread the work on federally funded projects, like Yosemite, workers were not allowed to log more than 30 hours a week. The government even went so far as to require that some work be completed by hand, not machinery. The upside of time limits meant Granite Construction Company employees had time to enjoy the park’s fresh air, good fishing and hunting.

But the promise of happy days came with a steep price. The rocks and landscape challenged Granite crews and tested the company’s will to survive. They discovered that Yosemite granite was far harder than the granite near Watsonville. Building a new roadway to Glacier Point nearly broke the bank, not to mention the spirit of the young firm.

Uncharacteristically careless missteps were made in the bidding of the job and estimations of working for the federal government and against Mother Nature. The miscalculation on lumber profits, water shortages and tough granite destroyed the job’s profitability, but by the summer of 1936, the road to Glacier Point was complete.

Granite’s various enterprises struggled, and losing money on a big Yosemite job didn’t help. Granite Rock was challenged trying to keep its bills current, paying vendors and employees what it could. Significant back wages and debts piled up. 

Anna Wilson offered Wilkinson and astute businessman Bert Scott full ownership of Granite Construction Company stock in lieu of back wages. Wilkinson and Scott got what little equipment the construction division owned and had to assume the debts of Granite Construction Company.

As they would many times in the intervening years, Wilkinson and Scott had to be innovative and imaginative. Scott’s first task was to make the rounds to the company’s major creditors requesting leniency. Scott gave up his airplane and golf membership while Wilkinson’s wife kicked in her jewelry. Making personal sacrifices in tough times would become Wilkinson and Scott’s lasting imprints on the company and shape the culture for decades to come.

Wilkinson had successfully guided the firm to recovery, but by 1941 it was time for a transition in leadership. Scott, who had been by Wilkinson’s side since 1920 and owned a third of Granite Construction Company, assumed the presidency. Wilkinson sold off his interest equally to his two sons, Jack and Walter.

By this time, the U.S. had entered World War II. In the nation’s call to arms, Granite focused on building housing, leveling parade grounds and paving agriculture fields into airstrips for military use. The war changed everything; it destroyed so much and claimed so many. Yet, wartime innovations would affect the construction industry for the better. Equipment became more sophisticated, and for Granite Construction, the work it provided was a salvation.

By the time WWII was over, the mobilization of US forces had significantly strengthened Granite, thrusting the firm into even more growth. From 1940 to 1949, Granite’s total work volume exceeded $17 million—nearly double what it had billed during its first 18 years of operation. Granite opened offices in Monterey in 1945 and Santa Cruz in 1946, stretching its reach 43 miles along the California coast.

The Monterey and Santa Cruz offices had given Granite Construction dominance in the area, but now, it was time to stretch beyond. Farther north, Sacramento’s postwar population was growing—a 30 percent increase during the 1940s and another 39 percent in the 1950s. The only routes to the city were narrow and dangerous, and Sacramento’s leaders tagged traffic congestion as the greatest obstacle to growth. 

Granite Construction arrived in Sacramento with its winning contract to pave Highway 99 near Elk Grove. But in a futile attempt to prevent Granite Construction from coming into their territory, aggregate providers in Sacramento boycotted the out-of-town firm. Granite struggled to line up a local supplier of stone. No stone meant no work—and no road into the capital. 

Granite bought its way into Sacramento by acquiring the Perkins Quarry and American Sand & Gravel and thus breaking the boycott. The vertically integrated business model is now a hallmark of the firm.

In 1955, the improbable Squaw Valley Resort, near Lake Tahoe, was awarded the 1960 Winter Olympics. It was the first time the games were held in the Western U.S. At the time of the Olympic bid, Squaw Valley had a single chairlift and a 50-room lodge. 

Needless to say, there was much to be done; the entire infrastructure would have to be up to Olympic standards in just five years. Since these were the largest Winter Games to date, new roads would be needed to transport the throngs there. 

Working with other builders, Granite’s Surfacing Department oversaw the building of sections of Interstate 80 between Squaw Valley and San Francisco. The work was intense and the hours were long, but the Olympics were a success.

Wilkinson was a tough guy, an engineer, a project manager, a company president and finally a civic leader. He guided the firm through unimaginable challenges. Upon his retirement, he had penned the Founder’s Guide to Future Generations on a single sheet of paper. 

Today the 11-step Code of Conduct is omnipresent inside the company’s offices and construction trailers—and even in the glove boxes of its trucks. In 1958, “Pop” Wilkinson passed away from a pancreatic attack, though his legacy would last for decades to come.

As the 1950s drew to a close, Granite’s business was growing. Its business volume had increased from $5.8 million in 1950 to $20.9 million in 1959. It was stretching into new territories and, for the most part, finding success. The Surfacing Department, which by the end of the ’50s was known as the Engineering Department, was about to take Granite even further.

In 1965, Granite’s engineering department worked on Donner Pass, a treacherous mountain pass in northern Sierra Nevada. Nearby, Rollins Dam, in north central California, marked one of Granite’s largest projects at the time, a 242-foot earth-and-rock dam. It, along with the nearby Scotts Flat dam, brought Granite $1.5 million in profits and thrust the company into the “big leagues” as co-owner Jack Wilkinson would remark.

Meanwhile, Granite began building nearly one-quarter of the California Aqueduct, a 444-mile-long canal carrying water from Northern to Southern California that would be unprecedented in scope in California. The $4.3 billion project includes 25 dams and reservoirs, 18 pumping plants and 8 hydroelectric power plants. Bigger projects meant greater risks, heavier equipment and larger crews. It was a heady time that forged legendary leaders at Granite, who built on the western firm’s reputation while expanding eastward onto the national stages.

The close of the 1960s marked the death of another owner, Jack Wilkinson. His heirs eventually sold his one-third interest to his brother Walter and to Bert Scott, who each became 50 percent owners of Granite.

The Bay Area approved plans for a rapid-transit system, and within a decade, stations were being planned and built around San Francisco and Oakland. Granite constructed the Powell Street station beneath the system’s hub at Market Street, which opened in 1972. 

Thanks to its work on the station, Granite was ready to make one of its most significant forays east as Washington, D.C., geared up for its own rail system, run by the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Granite bit off a big chunk, with five stations due to be operational between 1976 and 1978. In total, Granite would build seven stations, all of which are recognized today as examples of enduring construction. 

As usual, there was never a dull moment. While building Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Watsonville, Granite crews unearthed a pair of 9 foot long tusks belonging to a prehistoric mastodon 65 feet below the surface.

Times were good for the dam-building business. In 1983, Truscott Brine Dam, a $23 million dam-building project in the Texas panhandle, expanded Granite’s reach into the Lone Star State. In 1984, Texas stars aligned again. Knowing that Texas projects were storied to drag on, Granite bid “California-style” production levels with a faster timeline and “Big Red,” a concrete ready-mix plant with a production of 600 yards an hour. 

The 1980s saw more changes to company ownership. In 1983, Bert Scott bought out the remaining Wilkinson interest, from Jerry and Jack Wilkinson, sons of Walter Jr. and grandsons of Walter, for $25 million. Bert Scott’s heirs owned 100 percent of Granite Construction, including his nephew and then president of Granite Construction, Dick Solari. In 1985, fifty-one percent of Granite was sold to employees as part of a popular employee stock ownership plan. Two years later, Granite hired its first outside leader, Dave Watts, as CEO. 

Now that Granite had the ability to raise capital through the stock market and was freed from the constraints of repurchasing employee stock, there was nothing stopping the company’s growth. 

The company continued to expand its footprint. In acquiring like-minded businesses and turning them into branch offices, the company was able to secure an aggregate source, serve the local community and grow the business. Helping to fuel its nationwide growth, Granite broke into the Utah and Florida markets through acquisitions.

Paying close attention to what their partners did drew Granite into the design-build arena as a pioneer, helping to push the company into the forefront of a national shift in the way that bridges, highways and other infrastructure projects were built. In 1996, the $800 million San Joaquin Toll Road project marked Granite’s expertise in design-build projects. 

In its second Olympic-related project, Granite was awarded construction of I-75 in Atlanta to help prepare the city to host the 1996 Olympics, Granite's first significant project in the Southeast Region.

By the turn of the century, the quarry that drew Granite Construction to Sacramento was spent. Granite had donated the property to the city to be used as a park, but the city had no money to develop it. Granite Land Company was formed. The new real estate investment division and the City of Sacramento converted the area into a 129-acre city park and a 600,000 square foot office complex that funnels money back to the city for park improvements. 

On the opposite side of the country, Granite had steered clear of the Northeast for decades but it was time to tackle the country’s largest market: the New York metropolitan area. 

Granite purchased Halmar Builders of New York for $19 million. Using existing Halmar relationships with unions and public officials helped ease the transition. Without the unions’ approval of Granite as a firm and player in the New York City markets, it would have been near impossible to conduct business.

September 11, 2001, began in New York City as a warm, late summer day with a clear blue sky. Around 9:00 a.m., Granite’s office, an hour north of the city, were rattled by news that two planes had hit the World Trade Center towers. New Yorkers began a citywide evacuation. 

Steve Elmore, a Granite project executive who had relocated to help with the acquisition, grabbed his tools and headed in the opposite direction—into downtown. He worked his way past police officers and by 1:00 p.m., was at Ground Zero. “The area was covered in soot, smoke and debris. I had my safety sunglasses on, but it was so dark that it made it hard to see.” Elmore helped struggling police officers put up light plants, easy work for him after 15 years in the dark tunnels. 

Two days later, a full-fledged Granite crew was there with all the gas cans, diesel, oxygen, acetylene and blowtorches they could find or buy. A year later, Granite signed on to help rebuild the World Trade Center in New York City, marking the highest profile project in Granite’s history. Drawing on expertise acquired while building many of the nation’s subways, Granite also constructed a temporary subway station inside the World Trade Center to replace the destroyed platforms and track infrastructure that resulted from the attacks.

Always forging forward, Granite purchased Superior Group to expand into Eastern Washington and Wilder Construction Company in Western Washington and Alaska.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, just outside of Washington D.C., work was underway on the massive Intercounty Connector, Maryland's first all-electronic toll road. The nearly $500 million design-build included seven miles of a six-lane superhighway, including two interchanges and 23 bridge structures over a four-year period.

In 2009, Granite began another big project for New York: the Queens Bored Tunnel. The team constructed two miles of tunnel under NYC, nearly 22 feet in diameter. With a contract value of approximately $700 million, it’s a critical element of the $7.3 billion East Side Access program which connects the Long Island Railroad to New York City’s Grand Central Station.

The decade saw yet another baton passing to a new generation of leaders. In 2003, Dave Watts retired as CEO, replaced by Bill Dorey who joined the company as a full-time employee in 1968 after working there during summer vacations from high school and college. In 2010, Bill Dorey retired as CEO, and Jim Roberts, nephew of the legendary Dick Roberts and a lifelong Granite employee, was named President and CEO.

Very few companies have the privilege of celebrating a 90-year anniversary, but in 2012, Granite was one of the fortunate few. That year Granite completed its acquisition of Kenny Construction, a national contractor specializing in the power, tunnel, water and civil markets. An important milestone, the acquisition expands Granite’s presence in power delivery and water infrastructure markets across the country.  

Capping off 2012, Granite participated in a joint venture to rebuild New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge, the largest bridge project in New York’s history. As part of its diverse project portfolio, Granite continued to complete hundreds large and small infrastructure-related projects from coast to coast including one of the largest dam removal projects in California history, the Carmel River Reroute and San Clemente Dam Removal Project.  

The year 2018 was highlighted by the acquisitions of Layne Christensen and LiquiForce, both of which advanced Granite’s goal of becoming a full suite provider of construction and rehabilitation services for the water and wastewater markets. The year also marked the safest year for the company, continuing a long-standing trend of safety improvement. In 2019, Granite was honored to be recognized for the tenth consecutive year as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere Institute®. 

With its 100th birthday around the corner, Granite is stronger than ever and poised for growth in the next decade and for generations to come

Under Larkin's leadership, Granite released refreshed Core Values as the keystone to Granite’s Code of Conduct. These Core Values dictate standards of treatment of clients and coworkers, operating with safety and integrity, providing value to stakeholders, and incorporating sustainability into all facets of work to make a difference in our communities and the world.

Safety for all: The safety and well-being of our people, our partners, and the public is our greatest responsibility. Every level of our organization is engaged in our safety culture.

Integrity always: We operate with integrity and the highest ethical standards. We know and do what is right, and we are expected to speak up when something is not right. 

Excellence for our stakeholders: We strive for a high-performance culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and quality in all aspects of our work. We always perform and deliver our work the right way for our stakeholders.

Inclusion where everyone is valued: We value and respect a workforce diverse in perspective, experience, knowledge, and culture. We are committed to an inclusive environment in which everyone feels a sense of belonging and can grow. 

Sustainability to ensure enduring value: Together we build a better future by  integrating values of social responsibility, environmental stewardship, and dependable governance to deliver enduring economic value.

Larkin also oversaw the development of a new strategic plan to lead Granite to greater success in the 2020s.

March 2020 brought the world to a near standstill with the widespread emergence of COVID-19. Safety has always been paramount at Granite and throughout this challenging time the company implemented wide-reaching, proactive measures to keep employees, their families, business partners, and communities safe. During the early days of the crisis, Granite teams donated PPE (N-95 respirators, face masks, Tyvek suits, and gloves) and meals to support those hospital teams and first responders fighting the virus on the front lines. 

Granite, as a designated essential business, was permitted to continue operations during the pandemic, allowing the companies vital work to continue despite the pandemic. Highlight projects include the Houbolt Road Extension project at CenterPoint Intermodal Center (CIC) in Joliet, Illinois. CIC is the nations’ largest inland port, and the road extension will revolutionize trucking at the port by improving access while providing significant environmental benefits by reducing traffic and idle times. In Florida, Granite completed major milestones on the Brightline high-speed rail expansion, including the first-in-America use of innovative, pre-cast tunnel technology that saved nearly a year on the project schedule
 

On January 4th, 2022, Granite turned 100 years old. 2022 will be a year of celebration for the company. 

“We are proud of our history and excited for our future,” said Granite President and CEO Kyle Larkin. “Our story is tied to the American story of the past hundred years. We have served society’s essential needs for an entire century, and we look forward to doing so in the next one.”

See our Centennial page that features a collage of photos from each decade of our history. Follow our social media to learn more about Granite’s Centennial.