Jan/Feb 2023

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VOLUME 12 ISSUE 1

$5.99 JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023 SERVING CONTRACTING FIRMS AND THE ARIZONA COMMUNITY. . . THEN & NOW

ARIZONA ILLUSTRATED: JAY DATUS’S ARIZONA CAPITOL MURALS STUDENTS STORM ARIZONA’S CAPITOL: HOW ASU WAS NAMED HONOLULU’S HIDDEN MEMORIAL TO THE USS ARIZONA KRUMTUM CONTRACTING: PAVING POST-WAR ARIZONA ARIZONA’S ARTICULATE ARCHITECT: FRED WEAVER JR. FILLING YOUR “TANK” AT PHOENIX’S OLDEST GAS STATION

Arizona’s Arizona’s Timeless Timeless Magazine Magazine

READING BETWEEN THE LINES AT THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY

THE ARIZONA STATE CAPITOL:

ITS HIDDEN HISTORY FROM THE GROUND UP

SPECIAL EDITION

HENDERSON ENGINEERS “SWISHES” BASKETBALL FACILITY

DOUGLAS “BULLDOGS” CHEER ON A & P CONSTRUCTION

TIPS FOR CONTRACTORS: EQUIPMENT LEASING RISKS

JOE LILLY’S ARIZONA CONSTRUCTION LEGACY

ARE ROBOTIC JOBSITES ON THE HORIZON? STAY TUNED

PAGE

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To finish my goals from 2022.

Exploring Detroit’s industrial ruins.

Publisher Billy Horner billy@arizcc.com

GOAL FOR 2023?

Editor Douglas Towne douglas@arizcc.com

Great times in the sun, have more fun, and less on the run.

Contributors James Logan Abell, FAIA Peace and a Michael Cady semblance of normality.

Kent Lang Traveling to Guatemala and Donna Reiner New Orleans.

Luke M. Snell Global peace Doug Sydnor Foreign travel.

and exciting new adventures.

Production Manager Laura Horner Learn to laura@arizcc.com paddle board!

Publisher’s Representative Barry Warner Visiting New barry@arizcc.com England with

the grandkids.

P R I N T | PA C K A G I N G | M A I L I N G | F U L F I L L M E N T

In Memoriam Charles “Chuck” Runbeck 1928 - 2020

E C O - F R I E N D LY S O L U T I O N S

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Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published bi-monthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history.

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Contributors - Michael Cady & Donna Reiner From The Editor: Honolulu’s Hidden Memorial to the USS Arizona - Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When: The Best Place to Fill Your “Tank” in Phoenix Douglas Towne The Arizona State Capitol: Its Hidden History from the Ground Up - Michael Cady Arizona Captured his Heart: The Arizona Capitol Murals of Jay Datus - Donna Reiner ASU’s Academic Achievement: Elevating a Humble State College to University Status - Douglas Towne Krumtum Contracting: Paving Post-War Arizona Billy Horner Maintaining a Certain Character and Dignity: Architect Fred Weaver Jr. - James Logan Abell, FAIA Old School Equipment: The LeTourneau Rooter Billy Horner Building on the Past - 1956: First National Bank of Arizona Building - Douglas Towne Architect’s Perspective - Phoenix’s Carnegie Public Library: A Legacy of Learning - Doug Sydnor, FAIA

86

Digging Through the Archives: Joe Guinn - Billy Horner

92

Bid Results

94

Advertising Index

Front Cover Del E. Webb Construction Company works on the Arizona State Capitol building addition, 1938.

Article on page 48

TWELVE

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

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MICHAEL CADY ARTICLE ON PAGE 48

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ichael Cady has a passion for sharing history through artifacts and storytelling. He graduated from ASU with BA and MA degrees, and his career included teaching at the high school and university levels. Michael spent many years working in the International Baccalaureate Program as a history teacher and program coordinator.

His desire has always been for his students to experience history, not just read about it. Michael twice traveled to Great Britain to participate in the re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings, a fundraiser for English Heritage. To participate in the battle, he made his own armor, including an 11th-century helmet and mail hauberk fashioned using thousands of steel rings.

Michael has been active in Revolutionary and Civil War historical re-enactment groups. Luckily, his wife of 50 years shares these interests.

Together they have had many adventures traveling to historical sites and events.

After retiring, he began volunteering at the Arizona Capitol Museum, where he became interested in the history of the building. With two other volunteers, he researched its construction. One of the most fascinating aspects was the restoration that architect Gerald Doyle performed in the 1970s.

This information led to the Historic Building and Grounds Tour offered at the museum.

In his spare time, he enjoys reading, traveling, and building in wood, leather, and metal.

DONNA REINER ARTICLE ON PAGE 54

D

onna Reiner was raised loving classical music, ballet, puzzles, and history. She received a bachelor’s degree in music history and has continued her involvement in some form of musical expression, including playing the piano, harpsichord, and flute.

She uses jigsaw puzzles as an escape from stress and the mundane. But history has always been the foundation of her interests.

Many years later, Donna pursued a master’s degree in Historic Preservation and, while doing research, discovered Arizona Builder and Contractor and all its iterations.

Several years later, her high profile in the local preservation community led to invitations to write for various publications.

The circle was completed when she was asked to contribute to Arizona Contractor and Community magazine.

Whenever Donna travels, she looks for an unusual construction project or equipment that might spark a piece for the magazine. At least it’s worth investigating. Or perhaps she notices a distinctive concrete imprint…who was that company?

Donna enjoys putting all the pieces together to create a story, whether for The Arizona Republic or a conference presentation. Sometimes, it may take years to complete the research, much like it takes time to finish a complicated jigsaw puzzle. Yes, a historian’s life is full of twists and turns and never dull!

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Images Courtesy of Author

FROM THE EDITOR:

HONOLULU’S HIDDEN MEMORIAL TO THE USS ARIZONA DOUGLAS TOWNE

M

aybe it was the previous evening’s Mai Tai, the time zone difference, or the South Seas mindset. On a recent family vacation to Hawaii, I biffed one morning on snagging National Park

Service tickets to the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Who knew my sleeping in would serendipitously lead me to another little-known shrine to the famous battlewagon?

Instead, I explored Honolulu’s Chinatown neighborhood. John Fong, a Honolulu friend from my distant University of Arizona days, provided some recommendations. The commercial district began in the 19th century with goods sold from the nearby Port of Honolulu. The merchants were Chinese laborers seeking improved economic opportunities after completing labor contracts at sugarcane plantations.

World War II created an enormous military presence in Hawaii, then a U.S. Territory. As a result, Chinatown, particularly Hotel Street, acquired a seedy reputation where uniformed military personnel congregated to do those things that sailors on shore leave made famous: eat, drink, gamble, womanize, and get a tattoo to remember the experience. One of the early police detectives assigned to the Chinatown beat was Chang Apana, on whom the fictional character, Charlie Chan, was based.

Top: Smith’s Union Bar, “Official Watering Hole USS Arizona,” 2022.

Above: 1941 map of Hawaii at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial Visitor Center, 2022.

Left: Two “Mighty Mo’s:” Mo Towne and the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, 2022.

SIXTEEN

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Images Courtesy of Author

Above: Smith’s Union Bar, 2022.

Right: The USS Arizona Memorial and relict moorings for other battleships, including the USS West Virginia, 2022.

Above: John Fong presenting leis to Douglas and Maureen Towne on Waikiki Beach, 2022.

Left: USS Arizona leaving New York City, 1931

Hotel Street put on quite a show, especially after dark, even into the 1980s. “After working a swing shift downtown, I’d walk to Chinatown after midnight to meet up with friends for fresh donuts at a corner on Hotel Street,” says Fong. “Because of the big police presence, it was one of the safest places for pedestrians at that hour.

Hookers, police, EMTs, people on all manner of intoxicants, and workers would be in line. I don’t think the business even had a sign; it was just a tiny shop with a couple of deep fat fryers that turned out magnificent donuts – glazed or sugared.”

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The neighborhood has been gentrified since then, and the dodgy businesses designed to separate servicemen from their greenbacks are now rare. But a few relics remain from that era, including an unexpected gem.

Smith’s Union Bar, established in 1934, proclaims itself the “Oldest Bar on the Island” and—get this—the “Official Watering Hole USS Arizona.” Who knew there was a hidden hangout of the most famous warship sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor? Surviving sailors from the USS Arizona held reunions there, most

recently in 2014, and commented that the bar hadn’t changed much.

That the USS Arizona’s crew had an official bar makes sense since they had historically been a rowdy bunch. One of their escapades involved sailors who smuggled Madeline Blair, a 19-year-old courtesan with dreams of making it big in Hollywood, on a voyage from New York City to San Pedro, California, in 1924. Officers didn’t detect the battleship’s stowaway until Panama. Blair was deported back to New York, and 23 sailors spent up to 10 years in the brig for their shenanigans.

Unfortunately, I discovered Smith’s Union Bar at the end of our vacation. The best I could do was go inside, take in its extensive memorabilia displayed on the wall, and nod at the bartender. But on my next visit to Oahu, besides climbing Diamond Head, snorkeling, and enjoying Dole pineapple whip and malasadas (a type of fried doughnut), I will enjoy an adult beverage at Smith’s Union Bar to honor the memory of the sailors of the USS Arizona.

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Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

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“NOTHING BUT NET” FOR HENDERSON ENGINEERS NEW BASKETBALL CENTER

H

enderson Engineers sought to provide the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury hoopsters with every edge in their quest for a championship.

“The owner’s goal for this project was to build a world-class facility for the players but to do so while challenging training facility norms,” says Kelly Hyde, sports practice director and principal of Henderson Engineers. “Every idea was on the table if it provided players and personnel an enhanced experience. Being part of that creative process was both fun and rewarding.”

Their new Verizon 5G Performance Center at 5110 North 44th Street in the Arcadia neighborhood augments an aging ARIZCC.COM

training facility located in the basement of the arena that is now called Footprint Center in Downtown Phoenix. Design began in 2019, and the 52,000-square-foot center opened in late 2020 at a total cost of $45 million.

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Phoenix professional basketball teams with an offsite location separate from their downtown Phoenix arena for players to practice, train, and recover. Since the facility is near many of the players’ residences, it also offers a gathering place closer to home. “With high-quality amenities such ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

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Images Courtesy of Henderson Engineering

as a full weight room, two training/hydrotherapy facilities, a full chef-style kitchen, a player lounge, and gaming facilities, the center is truly a place where players can unwind,” Hyde says.

There was a strong desire from the

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT:

Kelly Hyde, Sports Practice Director and Principal Experience: 17 years with Henderson Engineers Favorite job task: Seeing complex designs come to life in the form of buildings that impact their occupants and surrounding communities for years to come.

ownership and architectural teams to produce a very high-end finish throughout so the project feels less like a working gym and more like a home. “Post-tension concrete slabs were therefore used to ensure clean surfaces,” Hyde says. “This challenged the status quo in that we were limited as to where we could penetrate the structure and where mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems could be visible.

As such, a more customized approach to MEP systems and building integration had to be explored and implemented to allow the building systems to be nearly completely hidden in most locations throughout the facility.”

Hyde says that the physical footprint limited what the facility could contain. “A high level of attention went into maximizing the space and its functionality while

being considerate of property line setbacks and vertical height restrictions,” he says.

“For example, property line restrictions to the facility’s north side dictated both the building setback and height. To maximize that space despite the restrictions, private parking and an outdoor agility field were programmed into the north zone, thus maximizing the space on site.”

The building’s height and architecture mesh with the surrounding community while providing athletes the amenities desired with stunning views of Camelback Mountain. So do the exercise equipment, locker rooms, training facilities, and conference rooms, which were all customized to fit the considerable stature of basketball players.

Toughest job task: The delicate balance of delivering state-of-the-art facility designs, all while maintaining a keen eye on the rising cost of materials and construction along with product availability. Managing this aspect of the job has always been challenging but is even more so in today’s market environment.

Most memorable day at work: There are far too many to narrow down, but I love days when a significant project deliverable or package is submitted. It’s always special when the entire team can take some time afterward to decompress and reflect on what a tremendous accomplishment we made as a TEAM! Favorite off-job task: Really, anything outdoors with my family. We love camping, fishing, hunting, or doing anything fun outside together!

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

ADOLFSON & PETERSON EXPANDS CHANDLER BEHAVIORAL HOSPITAL

H

elping construct a $16.8 million healthcare facility revealed a whole new world to one of the employees of Adolfson & Peterson Construction - Southwest Region.

“Working on Oasis Behavioral Health Hospital’s renovations opened our eyes to the exact needs a hospital like this requires, says Manuel Vidaure, the project superintendent. “AP worked with specialized equipment and materials specific to mental and behavioral health care that we don’t typically utilize. Understanding what can occur in these specialized hospitals can be difficult to understand until you visit the facility and speak with the staff about their needs.”

The 15-month project that is planned for completion in summer 2023 will improve storm drainage and parking and construct a two-story addition that will add 52 beds to the existing behavioral health facility at 2190 North Grace Boulevard

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Manuel Vidaure, Project Superintendent

Experience: 2.5 years with Adolfson & Peterson Favorite job task: There are so many things I enjoy about my job but conducting our daily walks and interacting with the onsite trade partners are my favorite parts.

Images Courtesy of AP

Toughest job task: There are several trade partners working together on a project site, so there can be occasional challenges making sure everyone is operating efficiently while staying out of each other’s way. AP goes above and beyond to ensure we have the supplies and support we need in place so our people and projects remain safe and successful.

Most memorable day at work: It started with a splash! Oasis Behavioral Health Hospital’s CEO, Jennifer Nunez, called me to ask if I had a wet vac. There had been a leak coming from a broken sprinkler head in the existing hospital’s intake area, so the team banded together and was able to clear the water from the space so the hospital could get back to doing what it does best. It’s something I still think back on and smile about.

Favorite off-job task: Spending time with my family and doing small hands-on projects at home.

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in Chandler. “The hospital has reached capacity, and our expansion work will provide additional space for an already stressed segment of the community,” Vidaure says. “Expanding the Oasis Behavioral Health Hospital will extend its life-changing resources, answering the growing need for mental and behavioral care in Arizona.”

As with many other Arizona construction projects, the most challenging aspect was the timely procurement of materials and services to stay on schedule. “Market volatility has affected supplies throughout the industry, and trying to determine what the supply chain will look like months ahead can be challenging,” Vidaure says.

“However, through constant communication between our team, project partners, and Oasis, we are projecting to complete the hospital’s expansion and renovation work later this year. “ Johnson Johnson Crabtree Architects is the project architect. AP’s subcontractors for this project are AF Steel, Pete King Construction, Wilson Electric, and RKS Plumbing.

As with other buildings, Vidaure has a sense of accomplishment, but the hospital felt extra special. He says that touring the existing facility provided exceptional insight into how delicate and detailed AP needed to be in constructing the two-story building expansion.

“Experiencing how adult and adolescent patients truly live and heal in that environment creates a sense of gratitude for hospitals and programs like Oasis Behavioral Health that work to help and support

those struggling with mental illness,” Vidaure says. “The collaboration between AP and Oasis allowed us to go beneath the surface of this project and understand the true impact our work will have not only on the patients but on their families and the community, as well.”

Top: Adolfson & Peterson Construction team at the topping-out ceremony.

Below: Manny Vidaure addresses a crowd at the topping-out ceremony.

Bottom: A saguaro is hoisted during the topping-out ceremony.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

WESPAC “LINKS” RENOVATED OFFICE BUILDINGS WITH COFFEE AND COCKTAILS

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Images Courtesy of Wespac

t’s the kind of project Wespac Construction employees might find themselves returning to long after the building is finished.

The construction firm, with offices in Phoenix and Flagstaff, recently completed a three-story glass-enclosed structure linking two newly renovated office buildings built in the late 1970s. Called the LINK, the new space serves as a common area for office tenants and the public in Uptown Phoenix’s Seventh Street corridor at 711 East Missouri Avenue.

The solarium’s main attraction is the to conceal all soda, beer, electrical, and second location of Provision, a specialty plumbing lines. “The Glasstender die wall is coffee roaster, cocktail bar, the best system I have used,” and eatery that started in the Steven Crofoot, Wespac projUNIQUE ELEMENTS Arcadia neighborhood. ect manager, says. “These Unique elements of the INCLUDE A THREE-STORY modular walls allow access almost 4,000-square-foot GLASS ATRIUM to those usually permanently restaurant include a threeenclosed areas, while the story floor-to-ceiling glass atrium and nat- stainless-steel shroud doubles as an easyural wood finishes. Local artist Lucinda to-clean surface and sophisticated indusYrene Hinojos of La Morena Art previously trial addition.” created murals on the east and west walls Provision has three floors of open of the original brick buildings that are now space, a larger and more efficient kitchen, the interior walls of the atrium. a full-service patio, and a full cocktail bar The Provision team introduced Glass- with 12 taps, which makes it an ideal destender Bar Die structure units, which tination for construction workers to relax, use chaseways built into the structure work, or socialize.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects Images Courtesy of AP

DOUGLAS “BULLDOGS” CHEER ON ADOLFSON & PETERSON CONSTRUCTION

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ccording to Ruth Sikorski, project manager for Adolfson & Peterson Construction, Douglas High School is gaining so much more than four new buildings. “The new spaces will inspire staff, promote student growth and bring together the community,” she says. “It’s exciting to be a part of providing that opportunity in this community. AP builds trust, communities, and people, and I appreciate the confidence the district and community share with our team.”

The $22 million Douglas High School expansion project for Douglas Unified School District #27 took 300 calendar days to reach the construction mid-point. “We anticipate completion in February 2023,” Sikorski says. Sketch Architecture is the design partner.

The school, whose mascot is the bulldog, is located at 1500 15th Street in Douglas, a city in southeastern Arizona along the International Border with Mexico. The school opened in 1949 and was designed

by Edward L. Varney Associates and built by Daum Donaldson Construction Co., both of Phoenix.

Adolfson & Peterson is adding four new pre-engineered metal buildings totaling 87,504 square feet to the existing high school, expanding the current campus to the north. The project includes new classrooms, updated facilities, sports equipment ARIZCC.COM

and athletic fields, a new fire lane, a concrete paver turnaround for easier access, and a new canopy shade structure.

Sikorski says that an unusual aspect of the project is the subcontractors. “They’re not only coming from the Douglas area but also Sierra Vista, Tucson, Phoenix, and Show Low,” she says. “This truly speaks to the teamwork, dedication, and tireless effort of our trade partners to build an addition to a school located in a relatively remote city in southern Arizona and to support our border community.”

The biggest issue Adolfson & Peterson has experienced during construction is common in the industry. “As with many

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Ruth Sikorski, Project Manager II

Favorite job task: I enjoy creating relationships across the job site, from walking the site and talking with the tradesmen performing the work and learning more about their craft to building relationships with my project team and staff. It all begins and is held together through relationships. Without them, there’s no cohesion or future.

Toughest job task: Our relationships sometimes require delivering impactful information to the client and trade

Above: Adolfson & Peterson working at Douglas High School.

projects throughout Arizona, we face various challenges related to material procurement accompanied by cost escalations,” Sikorski says.

Sikorski says that her job sometimes continued long after coworkers returned home from the job site. “As part of this project, AP was called upon to sit in and actively participate in the monthly DUSD Board Meetings to provide construction updates to the Board and General Public Assembly and field any questions and concerns from the same,” she says. partners, yet this is also where strong relationships come into play. Therefore, it’s imperative to build relationships on a foundation of integrity.

Most memorable day at work: My most memorable day at work was when I learned how to operate a front-end loader and relocate storage container boxes around a job site. It was an absolute blast!

Favorite off-job task: Driving to and from my project in the wee hours of the morning and home at night allows me to enjoy the Arizona sunrises and sunsets.

It’s a true gift and reward to work so hard in this industry, and it blesses my day to begin and end with seeing such beauty and colors!

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Images Courtesy of E&E Companies

E&E COMPANIES KEEPS TRASH DRY ON LATEST EARTHMOVING PROJECT

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andfills are designed to store the ever-increasing refuse of our society and not let any potential contaminants migrate beyond their boundaries. The key to successful waste disposal is to ensure the trash is kept isolated from any precipitation, which could facilitate the offsite movement of unwanted, sometimes hazardous, substances.

Those living near the Ironwood Landfill operated by Waste Management near Florence, Arizona, can thank E&E Companies

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Colby Johnston, Scraper Operator

Experience: 3 months with E&E Companies Favorite job task: Learning to operate and maintain machines over 30 years old.

for help keeping any nasty stuff from migrating offsite.

“The four-month project involves placing a base layer of fill material on top of the existing landfill cap,” says Buddy Escapule, owner of E&E Companies. “This fill will create a three percent slope from the center of the landfill to the outer edges to ensure drainage follows this path. After the base layer is complete, we’ll place a two-foot final cap on the top section and slopes to protect the surface from any trash exposure.”

Escapule explains that a berm will be built around the perimeter to divert water to 18-inch culvert pipes that will be installed from the top cap to a drainage channel placed around the perimeter of the entire landfill area. “The benefit of the project is to make sure run-off from rain is controlled and cannot expose any of the material below the capped surface,” he says.

E&E Companies partnered with Smitco Enterprises on the project. One challenge

has stood out about the job. “It’s been tough dealing with the different material layers in the borrow pit ranging from loamy-clay material to layers of sand and river rock,” Escapule says. “This makes it challenging to screen the material to less than 3 inches. The clay causes a build-up in the screen and makes it difficult to keep up production.”

There’s one item that Escapule has found particularly unusual about working at the landfill; it’s a term that was the subject of a famous Seinfeld episode involving George Costanza. “The shrinkage factor of the existing surface is interesting,” he says. “Loaded scrapers run along the existing surface will cause ruts up to 24 inches deep until the cover material is placed and bridges over the trash below.”

Below: Kayne Ros­sow, Buddy Escapule, Colby Johnston, and Cody Cortese (l-r) in front of a Cat 631D scraper recently purchased from the Ashton Company in Tucson.

Toughest job task: Maneuvering a 631D and 623B around other equipment in tight areas while maintaining production—it keeps you on your toes and forces you to constantly pay attention to your surroundings.

Most memorable day at work: Spending the weekend doing a transmission swap on one of 623s and finding out how lucky we were when the splined shaft slipped into the differential on the second shot.

Favorite off-job task: Shoeing and training horses, along with restoring my 1993 Dodge pickup.

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castlehotsprings.com | 844.276.8052 | Morristown, Arizona

THIRTY

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ur great friend, Joe Lilly, an early supporter of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, passed away recently. Joe’s name opened many doors for us, helping pave the way to create a publication about the state’s construction industry. We will miss him greatly and are running this tribute to his legacy.

The magazine spotlighted Joe’s retirement back in 2014. So, of course, he came up with a funny quote to mark the milestone event. “When you find yourself working with the grandchildren of your original clients, it’s time to think about retiring,” he said. At the time, Joe had been a vital part of Arizona construction for more than 40 years.

Joe was a native of Independence, Missouri, born to Don and Juanita Lilly on October 16, 1948. Joe grew up in Santa Ana, California, and pursued hobbies surfboards to the beach, Joe and his friends where he learned problem-solving skills designed a clever method of transporting that would later come in handy in the conthem tied to the back of their bicycles. struction industry. For example, to get their “We used to take nine-foot Hobie boards and put an eyelet on the front. Then we Top right: l-r, Pete Costa, Joe Lilly, and Phil Fox, hooked the surfboard to the back seat of during an ARA event, 2012. our 10-speeds after adding wheels where Right: Joe with heavy machinery, 1974.

Bottom right: Joe piloting his speedboat at the scag [or fin] was located,” he recalled.

Lake Havasu, 1969.

Still, Joe had no idea he would evenBelow: Joe wearing his letterman’s jacket by tually become involved in the construction his 1959 Triumph motorcycle, 1965.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

JOE LILLY, A FRIEND OF ARIZONA CONSTRUCTION, PASSES

industry. After finishing technical college, he operated and maintained heavy equipment in the Los Angeles area. Then, after a trip to Arizona, he was hooked and got a job as a diesel mechanic for Kennedy Machinery.

The owner asked if Joe wanted to go into rental sales, which he did in the morning while still doing mechanical work in the afternoon. Whenever he could, he took

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“I met Joe in 1980 when I worked for Swengel Robbins. He enjoyed flying with me around the state to different job sites. When I left Pulice and started CMX Constructors, he was my Schwab salesman, which continued to Red Mountain Machinery. We became excellent friends and went camping and four-wheeling together. We shared many lunches as he and Judy stopped by our place in Payson.

When he lived in Strawberry, I helped Joe with several improvements at his house, including concrete work, retaining walls, and such. He was truly a great friend and would go out of his way if you needed anything.”

- Phil Berger

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

Tributes to Joe Lilly

“Joe was one of the nicest human beings I have ever known. I respected him greatly and was lucky to call him a friend.”

- Larry Cox Above: Bo Adams, Joe Lilly, Lonnie Hamburg, and Ben Goddard (l-r) at a car show at Vermeer’s facility, 2014.

Left: Joe Lilly while working at Red Mountain, 2013.

Bottom right: Joe Lilly’s ballcap collection displayed at his memorial service by Judy Varns.

Associated Equipment Distributors rental classes. “My big break came when Mike Miller, owner of Southwest Rental, offered me a job as a rental manager,” he says.

“Mike was a great mentor, and Southwest pioneered the heavy equipment rental business as you see it today.”

Starting in the 1970s, Joe supplied Arizona contractors with heavy equipment.

Some favorites include Herb Tiffany, who was honest, ethical, and always took the time to see him, and Bob Wheeler, a contractor who bought his first late-model CAT 613 scraper from him. Joe recalled how Mike Markham got started in his garage, and Wayne Rawlings opened his business in a one-room office on West Broadway.

“These men are examples of hard work and dedication,” Joe said. “I felt privileged to be around these icons of Arizona construction.”

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Joe enjoyed his work, and many of his clients became friends over the years.

For the last two decades before retiring, he worked with Owen Cowing, Linda Cowing, and Jeremy Cowing at Red Mountain Machinery. “I’ve been blessed to work for the Cowing family. They are a class act in a competitive industry,” he said.

Joe retired after the death of his wife, Norma, a longtime employee of Sundt Corporation. Joe subsequently toured the Pacific Northwest in his RV, towing his Jeep. He debated moving there but didn’t like the long winters, so he became a Mesa snowbird. “I enjoyed retirement and not having to get up at 4 a.m. every day,” he told friends.

But in 2015, Joe received a Class 8 license and opened a business called Astoria Southwest, moving semi-trucks across the country. That same year, Joe became close with Judy Varns, and the two traveled, taking several trips for several months at a time up until his death. “My regret in life is not having a son to pass on the Lilly name,” Joe said.

His longtime friends and coworkers attended a celebration in Joe’s memory.

Judy made a lovely display in the foyer of his hat collection, including many older ballcaps from past contracting and rental companies.

“Joe lived a work-hard, play-hard life.

Dedicating decades to the construction industry in his profession and community service, he was always on the go and never tired of another adventure. He was an honorable man with a generous spirit who never met a stranger. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to call him a friend. He will be missed.”

- Connie Peretz “I met Joe in the mid-1980s when I became a supervisor in civil construction.

Joe became my patriarch, personal counselor, and a man of many talents. I would not have reached the pinnacle of my working career without Joe’s help. I am truly grateful to this great man that was deeply respected and well-liked by our Arizona construction world. Thank you, Joe, for all the great memories. You truly were an amazing man!”

- Patrick Hazelton

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

THIRTY FOUR

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

The crane was eventually repaired and returned to service, but only after more than 14 months of downtime, starting with the original damage to the boom.

KENT LANG, LANG & KLAIN, P.C. Wilheit sued Sepesy for various claims arising from the lease agreement, including easing expensive equipment is a valuable payment for rent and repairs. During the business strategy that allows contractors to stay “lean and mean” without tying up litigation, Sepesy’s insurance company paid $161,500 to Wilheit for repairs related to precious capital.

Equipment leasing is not without its the crane’s telescopic boom, and the towrisks, however, and a recent Arizona law- ing company (or its insurer) paid $85,900 to Wilheit for the damage suit over crane repair and sustained in the towing rental costs illustrates the “AS WITH ANY CONTRACT, accident. importance of understandUNDERSTAND YOUR POTENTIAL Unfortunately for ing the lease agreement and what can happen when OBLIGATIONS WHEN ENTERING Sepesy, its exposure did end with repairs to the things go wrong.

INTO AN EQUIPMENT LEASE.” not crane.

At trial, the judge A few years ago, Sepesy also found that, per the Crane Services (the company names in this article are fictitious, and lease agreement, Sepesy was responsiany similarity to actual company names ble for the rental payments for the entire is coincidental) leased several industrial period during which the crane was inopercranes from Wilheit Leasing. The lease able – from the time of the original damage agreement between Sepesy and Wilheit to the boom, through the time it was stored required Sepesy (a) to pay all repair costs on Sepesy’s yard and during its short tow (except for normal wear and tear) during trip, and while all of the boom and exterior the lease term and (b) to continue to pay repairs were being made – until the crane was finally returned to service. rent during any repair periods.

The total rental bill was $269,000 While one of the leased cranes was ($19,000 per month for approximately in Sepesy’s possession, its telescopic 14 months).

To make matters worse for boom was damaged, making the crane Sepesy, the court also ordered it to pay Wilinoperable.

The damaged crane was stored for heit’s attorneys’ fees.

The moral of this story for contractors some time at Sepesy’s property before a is clear.

When you rent equipment, espetowing company was hired to transport the damaged crane to a repair facility. After cially the expensive kind: loading the crane and leaving Sepesy’s • Be clear on what your responsibilities are; yard, the tow truck driver drove into a • Try to anticipate your financial expoditch, flipping the trailer and damaging the sure if things go badly (did either Wilcrane’s exterior. heit or Sepesy foresee that a tow truck

TIPS FOR CONTRACTORS: RISKS OF EQUIPMENT LEASING

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Above: Kent Lang.

• •

would land their crane in a ditch?); Run the contract by your insurance company to confirm your coverage; and Be confident that you can survive the out-of-pocket costs that could stem from your lease obligations.

Images Courtesy of Lang & Klain

Kent Lang is the founding partner of Lang & Klain, P.C., a Scottsdale litigation and construction law firm. The Best Lawyers in America named Kent its “Lawyer of the Year” (Scottsdale) in Construction Law for 2023. (480-534-4871, klang@lang-klain. com)

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GET SMARTER ABOUT ELECTRIC CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT CONEXPO-CON/AGG

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Images Courtesy of CONEXPO-CON/AGG

ustainability in the construction industry is being advanced by the public and private sectors. Governments are adopting more clean-air regulations at local and regional levels, and companies are adopting sustainability policies and asking partners to help them meet their targets.

Consequently, many manufacturers have already developed – or are in the process of developing – electric-powered construction equipment to meet increasing emissions regulations, provide efficiency improvements, and lower operating costs.

All electric, electric/hydraulic, and battery-operated versions rival their diesel and gas counterparts in performance, according to Joel Honeyman, Vice President of Global Innovation at Bobcat.

“People say electric machines are not going to perform as well as a diesel machine,” Honeyman says. “That is simply not true. In many cases, they can outperform them. Many people are so used to what they have and are afraid of new technology. Some companies have been running diesel or gas-powered equipment for 40 or 50 years. Hydraulics have been on equipment for 80 years. Adjusting to an electric-powered machine is quite a paradigm shift.”

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Honeyman sees electric-powered technologies and their applications spilling into our industry. “Look at what is happening in the auto industry,” he says. “Tesla has really driven the battery electric concept, and an entire industry is shifting.”

Green construction technology is only getting better and smarter with new

Exhibitions at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020.

machine and equipment applications and opportunities, he adds. Among the many advantages of electrification, according to Honeyman, are “noise and vibration reduction, instantaneous power, and software features that are otherwise unavailable with a diesel engine and hydraulics.”

Matt Sagaser, Director of Innovation Accelerated at Bobcat’s Acceleration Center, says that “the software features allow us to advance and accelerate the technology. We are doing it in a way that is more efficient and cost-effective, and beyond expectations from a power perspective.

Overall, our electric innovations allow us to offer customers an experience they may not have previously imagined.”

Sagaser adds that his company could have very easily removed the diesel engine and replaced it with a battery. “Instead, our innovation team, which leads this project, wanted to see what other advantages we could achieve if we made it all electric and removed the hydraulics as well. That opened up a lot of possibilities.”

Honeyman and Sagaser will hold an education session titled “Electrifying the Future: Get Plugged In” at CONEXPO-CON/ AGG 2023, held March 14-18, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. They will examine the advantages of electric construction equipment beyond just being “green.” They will also discuss what an all-electric platform allows construction equipment manufacturers to do.

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JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

LUKE M. SNELL

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Images Courtesy of Author

hen I began this quest to learn when and how concrete started, I thought I had the answer. All I had to do was put it in writing so others could see my logic and conclusions. But the more I researched the first steps of making concrete, the more I realized its complexity. The start of concrete really depends on your definition of concrete.

Hopefully, you have developed some personal opinions after following this series of articles. Let’s review a timeline of some of the important dates and details: • 125,000 B.C. - Control and use of fire by man.

• 29,000 B.C. - Making fired clay figurines (Europe) • 18,000 B.C. - Making fired clay pottery (China) • 9,000 B.C. - Making sun-dried bricks (Israel) • 7,000 B.C. - Making lime (Turkey and Israel) • 4,400 B.C. - Making fired bricks (China) • 2,600 B.C. - Making gypsum (Egypt) • 1 A.D. - Making Roman cement (Italy)

There are several discoveries that could be considered the start of concrete: Part 1: Sun-dried Bricks with Mud Mortar - This meets the definition of both cement and concrete, and it has been in use since at least 9,000 B.C. Because of the simplicity of this construction, it was likely used much earlier, but its lack of durability makes this difficult to prove. While sundried bricks and mud mortars are very different from today’s concrete, some believe this is a starting point for masonry, but not for concrete.

Part 2: Fired Bricks with Various Mortars - Again, this meets the definition of both cement and concrete, and it has been in use since at least 4,400 B.C. This process was a major step in masonry and construction but not for concrete. The Biblical story of the Tower of Babel indicates that fired bricks may be much older than the fired bricks discovered in China. Their use of tar as a mortar was one of the many reasons why this construction was unsuccessful.

Thankfully this poor choice of mortar did not stop the advancement of masonry and concrete.

Part 3: Gypsum Cement as Mortar and Plaster - There is no record of when gypsum cement was discovered, though a campfire could have led to its discovery. If this is true, then gypsum cement could have been discovered as early as 125,000 B.C. Thus, this would be the first cement created using heat, like how we currently make cement.

The first known use of gypsum was in the pyramids in 2,600 B.C., as the Egyptians used it to butter the joints to maneuver the huge stone blocks into place. However, the gypsum was not intended to be a mortar or cement to hold the blocks together. The other use of gypsum at around the same time was as a plaster to create a smooth Top left: Modern concrete.

Left: Sun-dried bricks.

Top right: Roman concrete at Bath, England.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

HOW CONCRETE STARTED—CONCLUSION: TIMELINE AND OBSERVATION

surface for writing and painting. Again, this does not meet the definition of cement.

Part 4: Lime - The process of making lime appears to have been well understood by 7,000 B.C. The knowledge our ancestors had accumulated by then likely allowed them to make the leap to producing lime.

Some concrete historians have suggested that the manufacture of lime preceded the making of pottery. Since the firing of clay to make a figurine was at least 20,000 years before the first evidence of the manufacture of lime, it is possible that the knowledge of how to make lime spread more quickly than the making of pottery.

Part 5: Roman Concrete - Roman engineers appear to have encapsulated all the earlier knowledge of lime and concrete, and their engineers had 200 years of peace to focus on civil projects using concrete.

They improved how concrete was made and used, resulting in Roman concrete structures that still survive. Their improvements in using animal blood for air entrainment, pozzolans, and lightweight aggregate were major advancements. However, concrete was developed well before the Romans made their upgrades.

Part 6: Modern Concrete - John Smeaton found that adding clay to the manufacture of lime resulted in an improved cement in 1750. One of his major accomplishments was to build the Eddystone Lighthouse in Tasmania using this new cement. Then in 1824, Joseph Aspdin obtained the first patent to make “Portland cement” by increasing the temperature and controlling the addition of clay.

Which theory of when concrete started likely depends on both your definition of concrete and what you think was the most important step. But my research led me to believe that concrete was not a single discovery but a series of worldwide innovations. We can be thankful to our ancestors, however, that they kept at it to develop the concrete we enjoy today.

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

FORTY

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

WILL WE REACH THE POINT WHERE JOBSITES ARE AUTONOMOUS? STAY TUNED ASSOCIATION OF EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS

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t’s hard to ignore the increasing attention autonomous construction equipment is receiving. Heavy equipment autonomy announcements in just the past year include: • SafeAI demonstrated a retrofitted autonomous truck, • Shantui developed an unmanned bulldozer, and • SRI International’s prototype robotic excavator.

But will we ever get to the time when humans are rare on a job site? And is that even the point?

A Quick Review All industries, including construction, have been the beneficiaries of U.S. defense research, says Bibhrajit Halder, founder and CEO of SafeAI. This program included the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Grand Challenge in the early 2000s, designed to accelerate autonomous vehicle technologies. “That was a trigger point,” says Halder, whose company concentrates on bringing autonomous solutions to construction and mining. “It was a massive success that really sparked autonomy in this country.”

In 2014, the Society of Automotive Engineers established six levels of autonomy, going from Level 0, indicating vehicles with completely manual controls, to Level 5, where there is zero human interaction in operating a vehicle.

“No one has a true Level 5 system yet,” says William Nassauer, manager of product strategy for Komatsu America. That assessment includes the automotive sector, which, although leading the autonomous journey, has had significant bumps along the way.

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As with cars, construction equipment will transition from assist features to task automation to task autonomy. The now-commonplace operator assists, such as blade and bucket controls, require sensor basics that are steps along the automation journey.

But equipment automation should be considered in the context of total job site autonomy, with several autonomous machines working in concert, said Fred Rio, product manager for Construction Digital and Technology at Caterpillar. “On a job site,” Rio says, “all machines have a shared mission, and no one machine can accomplish it without the other machines. So the true quantum step in value will be when you can get them to all work together.”

Retrofitting Existing Machines Several companies – including ASI, Built Robotics, SafeAI, and Teleo -- are

Above: An autonomous Caterpillar 725.

Below: Autonomous excavators.

building retrofit kits that take the operator out of the cab. ASI defines three different types of operator-out-of-the-cab controls: remote control, where the operator is in line-of-sight of the machine they are controlling; teleoperation, or non-line-of-sight operation that’s still one operator on one machine; and autonomy, in which an operator can remotely oversee the operation of an entire fleet of machines.

Teleo’s Supervised Autonomy retrofit is specifically designed to include operators, according to co-founder and CEO Vinay Shet. “We’re combining the best of both worlds – the experience and expertise that their operators have with the advancements in technology,” he said. “This is letting their operators do a lot more than

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

of tasks aimed at performing precision bores in complex underground utility repairs.

“It automates this operation, from above-ground scanning and identifying where the underground assets are to reinstating the road when the job is done,” says Ali Asmari, director of infrastructure automation and AI at ULC Technologies. After scanning, the onboard software creates a 3D model of what’s underground that guides the rest of the operation. Next, the sensor box is swapped for various road cutting, air, vacuum, repair, and backfill tools.

Although the RRES was created for one utility customer, its applications are broad, Asmari says. ULC is actively pursuing new opportunities with other companies, including how each tool can be used separately.

No Humans Necessary Will construction ever see a “no-entry” site where no humans are on the job, or indeed, necessary? Perhaps, says Halder, but it’s still years away.

But there will be a tipping point.

For example, let’s say using autonomous machines gives a 20 percent improvement in productivity. “The moment one contractor completes a $100 million project for $80 million because of autonomy, it’s game over,” Halder says. “Everybody has to do it because you can’t compete anymore.”

“The industry is absolutely massive, the pain points are huge, and it’s early days for autonomy,” Teleo’s Shet says. “To be honest, there are not enough companies doing what we’re doing.”

“There’s a huge appetite and interest in autonomy,” Ahmed agrees. “Maybe construction needs to develop its own set of autonomy goalposts that are specific to its needs and show that each level is valuable.”

Above: A remote-controlled Caterpillar.

previously.” The company, which has partnered with Deere dealer RDO Equipment among others, is now beta-testing its system on North American job sites.

Today, autonomous machines are propelled by several systems working together.

The SafeAI retrofit system, for example, uses off-the-shelf hardware (LiDAR, camera, drive-by-wire system, radar, computer, and vehicle-to-everything communication) and combines them with its proprietary autonomous vehicle and site operations management software. This system gives the vehicle’s location, perception, and direction. Halder says a staff member who works from a cloud-based project model orchestrates the operation.

The Human Element Because of their autonomous experience in mining, Caterpillar, Komatsu, and ASI have developed a structured approach to onboarding the technology to their customers. “Our customers are going to be changing mentalities,” Nassauer says.

“They’ve got to maintain their site differently, use workers differently, and transition operators into supervisory roles. So there’s much learning involved.”

Understanding a job site – including what each machine is doing each day -and how the inputs and outputs work is an essential step in becoming autonomous, says Michael Gidaspow, Komatsu America’s vice president of products. “They’ll have to give the machines specific instructions on exactly where and when to go,” he said.

Autonomy must also be easier to use to be attractive. Hiring a whole group of IT specialists would only make the process more complex.

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As part of the move towards autonomous, Built Robotics envisions a new job: Robotics Equipment Operator (REO). “Fifty percent of this effort is developing the robot, and 50 percent is how you deploy and get people to manage it effectively,” says Erol Ahmed, director of communications for Built Robotics. “REOs are the people on the front lines. They go through a 30-hour training to run and manage these machines.” The company has partnered with the International Union of Operating Engineers to offer this certification to its members.

Niche Machines for Specific Tasks In addition to autonomous machine research, some are investigating job-specific robotic units. For example, ULC Technologies’ Robotic Roadworks and Excavation System (RRES) uses a robotic arm on a tracked undercarriage to do an assortment

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

BUILDING STREETS AT GIGABIT SPEEDS

H

unter Contracting Co. (Hunter) provided Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) services for the City of Phoenix for the Northwest Valley Transportation project. This project includes building 4+ miles of major roadway infrastructure to and from the new Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plant in north Phoenix under construction located west of I-17 and Dove Valley Road, north of the 303, and south of Carefree Highway. Major scope items include box culverts, storm drain install, roadway excavation and grading, cement-treated base, concrete curb, gutter, sidewalk, asphalt paving, street lighting, and landscaping.

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This fast-paced, large-scale project involving major stakeholders includes the City of Phoenix, ADOT, TSMC, and Arizona State Land. This project required extensive communication and teamwork amongst Phoenix area contractors to install all required utilities before building the roadway.

Hunter installed storm drains as part of their CMAR services, with all other utilities being brought into this massive industrial facility by other contractors not contractually obligated to Hunter. Out of necessity, Hunter stepped up and led this coordination effort. Weekly meetings were held for 10+ months by Hunter to ensure necessary collaboration to keep the schedule moving forward.

The utilities installed before roadway construction include multiple sanitary sewer lines, waterlines, Southwest Gas, Linde Gas, APS power, Cox, and CenturyLink/Lumen.

One unique scope item included the use of cement-treated base (CTB) as structural support for asphalt pavement and concrete sidewalks.

Geotechnical investigations suggested importing special soil fill to use as roadway subgrade. However, the available soil fill location and associated haul costs were deemed cost-prohibitive, so Hunter considered alternate roadway profiles and value engineering options.

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: IAN SHANTZ, PROJECT SPONSOR

After cost analysis and engineering review, Hunter determined that CTB was the best option - an equivalent roadway section could be provided at a better price. In this CTB application, they brought in the aggregate base (AB), cut it to grade, then the water is mixed in with the cement by use of a pulverizer. Once the AB, cement, and water have been blended, the mixture is placed back on grade and recompacted. The road base is then blocked off and left to cure for seven days – ultimately achieving a substantial base.

HUNTERCONTRACTING.COM

Hunter completed this project for the City of Phoenix in November.

The CMAR team includes the City of Phoenix, Kimley-Horn & Associates, Ardurra (formerly RPA), and Hunter.

Major subcontractors used on the project include Buesing (mass grading), Kimbrell (electric), Asphalt Busters (CTB), S&S Paving (asphalt paving), and LandTech (landscaping).

With 16 different contractors working in the same area, Hunter took considerable effort, coordination, and sequencing to finish the project on time. This coordination was one of the greatest accomplishments in completing this project successfully.

Ian started his career as a concrete laborer and finisher when he was not in school and found a passion for construction and building. He received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wyoming. Ian has worked on many projects in the construction industry over the past two decades, including several largescale and award-winning projects. He has managed all different elements of the work throughout his career, from structures, grading, paving, underground utilities, and even the designers.

Since joining Hunter Contracting Co. in early 2020, Ian has worked on some exciting and unique projects with accelerated schedules, utilizing a designbuild approach to a project where the contractor and the designer are a team to ensure the project is a success for the owners. In addition, Ian enjoys working with the project teams using his expertise to guide and mentor, building up the next group of leaders.

Besides work, Ian enjoys hitting the lake with his wife and daughter and enjoying the Arizona sun on his off days.

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JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Douglas Towne

E

cological principles prevalent in nature also have their application in the business world. In a restaurant industry dominated by generalists like Subway and Jimmy John’s, The Old Station Sub Shop is a specialist, cleverly locating its niche sandwiched between Phoenix Pioneer Cemetery and the Arizona State Government complex.

Since 1986, daring bureaucrats have ventured beyond the comfort of institutional cafeterias to fill its bays at 1301 West Jefferson Street. When the offices lock their doors, customer activity ceases in the challenging neighborhood frequented by the homeless. This creates a habitat that dissuades any sandwich conglomerate from infringing on The Old Station’s turf.

As the name implies, The Old Station inhabits what filling station fanatics believe is a former Conoco station built in 1928.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

It’s likely the oldest repurposed former petrol palace in Phoenix. Initially known as the Marine Model Gas Station, its Period Revival Style creates a “homey” feel. The building has gone from pumping petrol to piling on pastrami. In the intervening years, it served as a grocery store, parking for the adjacent John Armer Air Conditioning Co., and Castellano’s Garage.

Debbie and Joe Faillace have run the lunch stop adorned inside with license plates, vintage signs, and sports memorabilia for more than 35 years. Patrons include many politicos, former Diamondbacks players Luis Gonzalez and Randy Johnson, and the heavy metal band Metallica.

The Old Station’s fanbase takes their subs seriously. Last year on April 1, the owners placed “For Rent” signs in front of the business and sent their customers a “Thank You” goodbye message. “It was an April Fool’s joke! But it did not go over very well,” Debbie says. “We had customers calling and crying, so we had to take down the signs that morning.”

Image Courtesy of The Arizo na

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Republic

Back When

Image Courtesy of Author

THE ARIZONA STATE CAPITOL:

ITS HIDDEN HISTORY FROM THE GROUND UP Michael Cady

It

is doubtful that when the second mayor of Phoenix, Francis Shaw, purchased a section of land on the outskirts of west Phoenix, he knew it would become the site of the new Arizona Territorial capitol. Shaw sold part of a wheat and alfalfa field to developers Moses H. Sherman and Marcus E. Collins. They eventually sold 10 acres of it to the Territory for one dollar. But nine years before the capitol was built, Sherman and Collins transformed these fields into a fancy city park.

In the 1890s, people could take the streetcar on Washington Street from Center Street (now Central Avenue) to Capitol Park and spend the day outside in the shade. The park had a water flume and was a botanical paradise with Russian mulberry, elms, a Chinese bamboo forest, and even banana plants. Sherman and Collins developed the land around the park, called the Capitol Addition, into residential housing.

Lots in that development that sold initially for $200 went for more than twice that within a year.

The territorial capital moved to Phoenix in 1889. At first, the legislature had to rent space, paying $475 annually for the second floor of the Phoenix City Hall. The Territorial Legislature created the Capitol Commission, in which members were paid five dollars a meeting to administer the capitol’s construction. They held a contest won by Texas architect James Riely Gordon, who was paid $2,500. Unfortunately, the budget for the capitol was only going to be $100,000. Gordon’s challenge was to design a modest building that could expand as the Arizona Territory grew.

Thomas Lovell, another Texan, was chosen as the contractor. His job was to turn Gordon’s plans into reality and to keep the project within budget. On February 16, 1899, his company started digging the foundation. At four feet, they hit solid but uneven ground that needed to be leveled with stone to withstand the weight of the building.

An article in The Arizona Republican on March 2, 1899, describes how the company, Rynerson and Barnes, found the foundation stone “13 miles north of Phoenix, on Black Canyon Road,” today around 19th Right: Arizona State Capitol building, 1938.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

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ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Images Courtesy of the Arizona Library, Archives, and Public Records

Above: Construction of the Arizona State Capitol, 1899.

Left: Arizona State Capitol shortly after completion, early 1900s.

Below: Winged Victory weathervane atop the Arizona State Capitol.

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Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Avenue. The stone, called malapai or “bad rock,” likely came from Moon Hill, located northwest of Shaw Butte. The company cut huge slabs, some eight feet long on each face, and hauled them to the construction site. This solid foundation was then finished with locally produced red brick.

Lovell next located a local source of large granite blocks for the building’s ground floor at South Mountain, which still has evidence of quarrying. Wagons hauled the massive stones 10 miles to the construction site. These blocks were lifted into place using a hand-cranked windlass, aided by the stone worker’s knowledge of balance and leverage.

A major concern of the Capitol Commission was fireproofing, as early state capitol buildings often burned down. Arizona wanted to avoid this fate, so very little wood was used in the construction.

The four floors of the capitol are supported with steel beams and poured concrete.

The interior walls were made of metal lath with a hard plaster covering that is nearly impenetrable today. Most of the flooring was either carpet or mosaic tile. Some trim pieces were made of oak imported from ARIZCC.COM

Texas. Wood flooring was used in the old Territorial library, which is today the location of the Arizona Historical Railroad Society’s HO-scale train layout of Arizona from the post-World War II era.

The stone used for the top three floors is called “tuff” or “tufa,” which came from Skull Valley, west of Prescott. This durable stone was also less expensive than granite, a critical budget factor.

The Capitol Commission required that the structure have an “appropriate dome.”

Most state capitols combine ancient Greece and Rome design elements into a neo-classical style. Arizona is no exception, with Greek columns (decorative half columns above the entrance), and a dome, reflecting ancient Rome.

Newspapers promoted the idea that Arizona mines should donate copper for the dome, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Terne metal, a cheaper material, was used and painted white, black, and eventually the color of copper. An actual copper dome was added in 1975 by the capitol’s restoration architect, Gerald Doyle. The metal has been replaced due to a storm in 2010 and sun damage in 2021.

Above: Frank Luke, Jr.’s posthumous Medal of Honor ceremony at the Arizona State Capitol, 1919.

Atop the dome is an iconic statue called Winged Victory, which rotates, pointing toward the direction of the wind. The zinc weather vane is not unique but was purchased from an architectural catalog for $160 plus $15 for shipping. During renovations, Doyle found bullet holes in Winged Victory, which might date from statehood celebrations.

Lighting fixtures were installed that provided both electric and gas lighting—in the same fixture! A combustible gas running through the same fixture as electric wiring sounds dangerous. Still, such lights were standard when gas illumination gave way to newer electricity technology.

At the time, electricity was viewed primarily as a lighting source, as few electrical appliances were available. Thus, there were few outlets in the building. Arizona’s first state governor, George W.P. Hunt, had to run an electric cord from a screw-in outlet in the light fixture on the ceiling to an electric fan on his desk.

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Images Courtesy of the Arizona Library, Archives, and Public Records Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Left: Del E. Webb Construction Company employees at work on the Arizona State Capitol addition, 1938.

Bottom left: Architect Gerald Doyle at the Arizona State Capitol building, 1976.

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The building was designed for two elevators, but when bids were offered, an Otis Elevator salesman convinced the commission that they only needed one. This modification lowered the project’s cost, and Otis got the bid. The second, still empty, elevator shaft remains in the rotunda. The building was always crowded, and this bare elevator shaft was even used as an office.

The power for the elevator came from the streetcar line that ran along Adams Street, just north of the capitol.

A steam boiler on the first floor provided the building’s heat; that room is currently the location of a coffee shop. Central air-conditioning was installed during Doyle’s renovations in the 1970s when the capitol was converted into a museum.

Gordon designed features intended to lessen the summer heat. There are odd-looking “windows” that appear to lead nowhere, sealed off with glass because central air-conditioning was added years later. Initially, they were called “courts,” which acted like chimneys that started on the ground floor and exited at the roof. The open windows on the ground floor brought in cooler air from the outside and pushed the hotter air up and out of the building.

Even though the four stories of the building provided 40,800 square feet of workspace, it was always overcrowded.

Creating space for state workers as Arizona JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Above: Arizona State Capitol building, 1961.

Right: Courts, now-closed, that were designed for cooling airflow through the Arizona State Capitol, 2022.

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Image Courtesy of the Arizona Library, Archives, and Public Records

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

grew damaged the structure, as hallways were cut up into small offices without attention to detail or craft. One motivation for the 1975 renovation occurred when an employee sitting in a chair almost fell through the weakened floor that had been added above the House chamber. “No love had been shown the building,” Doyle said.

The initial $99,163 cost for the capitol building increased as unplanned necessities were tacked on, increasing the bill to $135,744. These additions included 25 electric light switches, drinking fountains, awnings, Venetian blinds, carpeting, bathroom fixtures, and a mantle for the fireplace in the governor’s office. In 1901, state workers began moving in.

Arizona taxpayers have indeed received a lot for their investment in the capitol. The building has been functioning as a government office or state museum for more than 120 years, and it still looks great. Visit the Arizona Capitol Museum at 1700 West Washington Street, and see for yourself!

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Image Courtesy of Don Ryden

ARIZONA CAPTURED HIS HEART: THE ARIZONA CAPITOL MURALS OF JAY DATUS Donna Reiner

F

Pageant of Arizona Progress. This eightpanel mural by Jay Datus (1914-1974) depicts the personality and character of the unnamed Native Americans, Spanish explorers, pioneers, miners, farmers, and others who provided the foundation of the territory and, eventually, the state of Arizona.

Image Courtesy of Author

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

ew visitors to the Arizona State Capitol Museum venture to the former home of the State Library on the third floor of the 1938 addition. Yet, in the dome high above the information desk is the greatest non-book treasure of that library: The

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I discovered the murals more than 20 years ago as a guide in the museum and wondered about the artist. Unfortunately, the Arizona Capitol Museum only had a brief biography on Datus. Thus, I made it a mission to learn more about the artist.

Fortunately, the State Library had a wealth of letters and communication between the artist and the State Librarian, Mulford Winsor, regarding the murals.

Other information sources were newspaper articles and eBay. A chance conversation with another guide led to a brief interview with the artist’s daughter, Cynthia Combs. I later reached out to several of Datus’ former students. Eventually, the artist’s story came together from these fragments.

Datus was born in Jackson, Michigan, as Jesse Datus Smith, Jr. The family moved to Chicago for a short time and later relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts, his mother’s childhood home. Datus discovered a passion for art at an early age. While in Worcester, he studied at the Museum School of Fine Arts and later at the Yale School of Fine Arts. During this time, Jesse Jr. changed his name to Jay Datus. The 1930 census records list him as J. Datus, so Jay Datus was likely a natural progression.

Moving back to Chicago in the mid1930s, Datus opened his first studio. He did Top: The Ancient Civilization in Arizona on the west wall of the former State Library.

Far left: Jay Datus at work on a mural, 1965.

Left: Jay Datus research sketches.

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Image Courtesy of Don Ryden

murals for private homes and some portraits and participated in two Art Institute of Chicago exhibits.

At age 23, Datus was awarded the mural commission in the new library addition of the Arizona State Capitol under the auspices of the Public Works Administration (PWA), a New Deal program intended to create work for artists. Datus and his wife, Martha Berry, also an artist, then moved from Illinois to Arizona, where they remained for most of the two years it took him to complete the project.

Datus extensively researched the mural subjects before beginning painting.

For example, working closely with Mulford

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Images Courtesy of Author

Above: Missionary Era in Arizona flanked by The Apaches See the First White Man and An Apache Ambush on the north wall of the former State Library.

Right: A Man of the Arizona Desert sketch by Jay Datus.

Far right: Jay Datus’s letter to Mulford Winsor.

Below: Pioneer Era in Arizona flanked by Scene During the Apache Wars and The Apaches at Peace on the south wall of the former State Library.

Winsor, who had studied the topic, Datus carefully included Apache smoke signals in the smaller panels, but only after further consultation with Apache people. He was extremely concerned that his paintings were accurate in every detail, although he did take some liberties in combining some groups.

Datus presented his research notes and descriptions of each panel to the State Library when he finished, which were be the basis for a brochure. However, it was never published. Once the artist completed his research, he began painting. Datus finished this magnificent work, his largest at the time, after six months. According to the September 1944 issue of Arizona Highways, the murals focused on the “type of historical character that built Arizona.”

Only two people from Arizona history are depicted: Fray Marcos de Niza and Estevan.

Here are some excerpts from Datus’ commentary on the murals, in which he emphasized “the personality and character of those [nameless] people who never gained fame, but who did their part faithfully and well.”

The Ancient Civilization in Arizona Having learned about Native Americans ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Images Courtesy of Don Ryden

Above: The Modern Era in Arizona on the east wall of the former State Library.

Left: State Library looking north.

Bottom left: State Library looking south.

at the Heard Museum and Pueblo Grande Museum and visiting with tribes, Datus wanted to show their “high skill in engineering and artistic projects.” However, he also recognized that archeologists still had much to learn about these civilizations.

Missionary Era in Arizona – This panel depicts de Niza and Estevan. Datus’ work provides some pointed commentary on the Spanish Conquistadores who “took much and gave little.” His notes called them “arrogant and greedy.” This panel is flanked by The Apaches See the First White Man and An Apache Ambush. Datus felt the Protestant missionaries were “destructive” and therefore, the “Apaches’ story [should be] given as a separate theme.”

Pioneer Era in Arizona – This panel shows men arriving with their wives and children. Datus believed they “made the biggest change in the character of this period.” Families signified permanence and the establishment of towns and the other elements necessary to make a better place to live. The panel is flanked by two murals, Scene During the Apache Wars and The Apaches at Peace.

The final panel was titled: The Modern Era in Arizona. Datus wanted to show the “culmination of what those pioneer leaders might have planned.” He wrote, “this FIFTY SIX

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painting expresses the forward surge of a people who are not content with resting on past laurels.” Nationalism was sweeping the country; Datus depicted the “optimism and hope which is a characteristic of the Arizonan.”

After completing the murals, Datus returned to Illinois, and his wife died shortly afterward. He had a brief solo show at the O’Brien Galleries in Chicago in late 1940, which included ten portraits and four cartoons for the Pageant of Arizona Progress mural.

Datus had never forgotten the beauty of Arizona. In 1948, he returned and settled permanently in Phoenix with his second wife, Edette, and her daughter, Cynthia.

On what is now the corner of 30th Street and Clarendon Avenue, Datus established the Kachina School of Art at his home. His art education also included a column, “The Paint Box,” in The Arizona Republic that ran for five years and correspondence courses.

In addition to teaching art, Datus served on the Heard Museum Board of Directors, was director of the Fine Arts displays at the Arizona State Fair, and worked diligently as a Phoenix Fine Arts Association board member to develop the Phoenix Art Museum. Datus held a fundraising ball at his art school and used the proceeds to purchase art from the Arizona State Fair entries, which he then donated to the City of Phoenix Art Collection.

Datus painted portraits of many prominent Phoenicians to raise funds to create additional murals, which were his passion.

Some of these murals graced the walls of local financial institutions such as First National Bank of Arizona, First Federal Savings, and Western Savings. Datus died in 1974.

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ONLY THREE DATUS MURALS STILL EXIST IN THEIR ORIGINAL HOMES. The eight-part mural in the 1938 addition to the Capitol is one of three still known to exist in their original home and is an impressive testament to his artistic skills. The other two Datus murals are The Seven Golden Cities of Cibola in the Wells Fargo Bank at 150 North Stone Avenue in Tucson, and Children of the World at the former First National Bank of Arizona at 10702 West Peoria Avenue in Sun City.

A little-known fact about Datus is that he was one of three artists who submitted drawings to Phoenix City Council for the first public art project in Terminal 2 at Sky Harbor Airport in 1961. His and Paul Coze’s proposals were both popular, but the public selected Coze’s The Phoenix. Unfortunately, it’s unknown what idea Datus proposed.

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ASU’S ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: ELEVATING A HUMBLE STATE COLLEGE TO UNIVERSITY STATUS Douglas Towne

I

in Tucson, otherwise known as Nogales Tech,” Ed Richards, ASU class of 1960, says.

The stalemate forced the Sun Devils to bypass politicos and take the issue directly to voters, and the campaign’s eventual success underscored the Valley’s political dominance over Tucson.

This clash of higher education interests originated in the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature of 1885 – a seminal meeting of state-builders in which Phoenix fared rather poorly. “The three big-ticket appropriations [that year] were back-room deals made to locate the university in Tucson, the insane asylum in Phoenix, and the Normal School in Tempe,” ASU archivist Rob

Spindler says. Founded to train educators for Arizona’s growing population of schoolchildren, the Normal School was renamed Tempe State Teachers College in 1925 and Right: Proposition 200 button, 1958.

Below: Demonstration to create ASU at the Arizona State Capitol, 1958.

Images Courtesy of ASU

n the fierce, homegrown rivalry between Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, it’s OK to run up the score when one school isn’t playing fair. And the Sun Devils did just that in 1958, trouncing their in-state opponents by an incredible tally of 151,135 to 78,699. The competition didn’t involve sports but a statewide ballot count for an initiative to upgrade the Tempe school to a university and to certify that the two institutions were equals.

Arizona State College, as it was then known, had unsuccessfully lobbied the legislature to be recognized as a university after World War II. “The people who opposed the change were from that school

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Images Courtesy of ASU

Left: Armored Motor Service delivers 63,956 signatures supporting Proposition 200 to the Arizona State Capitol, 1958.

Above: Proposition 200 banner over Mill Avenue in Tempe, 1958.

Below left: Proposition 200 bumper sticker, 1958.

Below: Proposition 200 billboard, 1958.

Arizona State Teachers College in 1929.

However, attempts to grant non-education degrees were stymied by Pima County legislators, who claimed the institution would provide inferior instruction.

Under the leadership of Dr. Grady Gammage, the Tempe school again sought to expand its educational opportunities for the numerous veterans enrolling after World War II. The Arizona legislature and the Board of Regents approved granting some non-education degrees and changed its name to Arizona State College in 1945.

Although the college was essentially operating as a university, Wildcat-affiliated politicians blocked attempts to upgrade its status over the next decade. The tangible benefits of being a university were the ability to offer a greater variety of ARIZCC.COM

undergraduate programs, including those leading toward a master’s degree or a doctorate.

The Sun Devils’ quest was aided by Eugene C. Pulliam, publisher of The Arizona Republic, who began referring to the institution as Arizona State University in his paper in early 1958. Pulliam was forced several months later to shorten it to Arizona State, however, after complaints from Tucson subscribers and UA alums.

To mediate the dispute, Senator Harold Giss of Yuma introduced a bill to rename the school Tempe University. Praise for the legislation came from The Old Pueblo. “[This] would forestall the thing Tucson has most to fear, which is the theft of the great name of the University of Arizona, established through decades of scholastic and

research glory,” declared an editorial in the Arizona Daily Star.

Valley residents were less enamored with the idea. Rep. Lillian Retzloff of Maricopa countered with a proposed bill to change the name of UA to Tucson University. “We might as well be consistent,” she said.

Giss’s bill inspired more than 2,000 Sun Devils to storm the State Capitol in protest in early March, 1958. The school’s student president, Dick Dodson, spoke from the building’s balcony, saying, “Our purpose and intention is to gain university recognition. We want to name ASU, and that’s why we’re here.”

Some students occupied the legislative chambers and hung an effigy of Senator Giss, while others chose a more organic ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

statement. “We commandeered push lawn mowers from the yard maintenance staff without much resistance,” Jerry Harris, Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity president, says.

“We then proceeded to cut ‘ASU’ in a conspicuous portion of the Capitol grounds.”

Finally, police dispersed the crowd, and Giss withdrew his proposal.

The Sun Devils soon began a petition drive to create an initiative for the November election to rename their school, ASU. The students needed 28,500 signatures and kept a running tally on a thermometer at the Memorial Union. A big incentive for student volunteers was that the graduates in 1959 would have the word “university” on their diplomas instead of “college.” Students collected almost 65,000 signatures.

“The students delivered the petitions to the Capitol in an armored car accompanied

SIXTY

Images Courtesy of ASU

Above: Governor Ernest McFarland (l) and Secretary of State Wesley Bolin (r) study election results, 1958.

Right: Demonstration to create ASU at the Arizona State Capitol, 1958.

Below: Proposition 200 aerial advertising, 1958.

by armed guards,” Marshall Trimble, Arizona’s state historian, says. “They wanted to make certain those Wildcats wouldn’t try and ambush them.”

Tucson campaigned against what became Proposition 200, citing name confusion, wasteful duplication, and higher taxes. But supporters had an effective strategy that included TV commercials featuring talk-show host Steve Allen, who had attended the school. The Sun Devils also launched Operation Airlift, a Piper airplane with “Vote 200 Yes” painted on its wings and fuselage, which flew around Arizona.

“I don’t recall any animosity, but rather good-spirited behavior by people on both sides of the issue,” Dick Godbehere, ASU class of 1962, says. Hijinks included burning “No 200” onto the turf at the 50-yard line at Sun Devil Stadium.

There was an enormous interest in the election in Arizona, which was headlined

by Barry Goldwater and Ernest McFarland’s rematch in the U.S. Senate. Election night was fraught with tension. “The early returns had ASU losing badly,” Harris says.

“We found out later those first ballots were from Pima County. When Maricopa County results were tallied, we won in a landslide!”

Only Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties voted against the initiative.

Dr. Gammage, who would pass away the following year, wrote, “It is almost certain the name will forever remain ASU. May we all build firmly and well around that name.” On December 5, 1958, Governor McFarland signed a proclamation for a name change to “Arizona State University.”

According to Trimble, this campaign was the first time in American history that a university had been named in such a manner. “There had always been an ‘A’ on the mountain in Tempe, and on the night of the vote, students went up and added an ‘S’ and ‘U,’” he says.

“The Wildcats would have done anything to keep Arizona State from achieving university status,” Trimble adds. But they couldn’t stop the Sun Devils in the voting booth. And they couldn’t stop them a few weeks later on the gridiron when ASU, under first-year head coach Frank Kush, routed the Wildcats (47-0) in Tucson to claim the Territorial Cup. “Those Nogales Tech supporters just had to suck it up,” Godbehere says.

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Image Courtesy of Joe Guinn

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KRUMTUM CONTRACTING: PAVING POST-WAR ARIZONA Billy Horner

C

ontractors have a knack for understanding and operating all sorts of equipment, whether it’s a vintage cable-operated blade or a ‘60s muscle car that inspires “thumbs up” from fellow motorists. Another machine contractors gravitate to is airplanes, including James Krumtum, who was part of the “Flying Contractors.” This group of business owners piloted their planes across the Southwest to supervise construction projects.

Krumtum was a high-flying contractor in more ways than one. His decision to expand into paving and concrete curb and gutter work made him a big-time player in the construction industry, aided by his friendship with some of Arizona’s biggest home builders, including John F. Long, Hallcraft Homes, and Flagstaff developer Tom Pollock. Let’s trace Krumtum’s contribution to Arizona’s post-World War II boom.

Born in Oklahoma in 1916, James M. Krumtum met Floy Belle Guinn in Texas. The two married in 1934, and would remain so until Krumtum’s death in 1991. Krumtum enlisted in World War II, where he became a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. After his discharge in 1944, Krumtum moved to Phoenix with his wife and two young children, Virginia and Kenneth.

In Phoenix, Krumtum offered services for yard leveling, and moving granite, dirt, and fertilizer. He advertised his services in The Arizona Republic with the heading, “Yes, I am A Veteran.”

Krumtum’s wife’s, Floy Belle, asked her brother, Oscar Albertus “Bert” Guinn, to move from Edinberg, Texas, to Phoenix to help with Krumtum Contracting. By 1948, the two, along with mechanic John “Wesley” Pesterfield, led a crew who offered excavation, driveway paving, and blacktop

services. One of their first jobs was paving a parking lot at Downing Drug Co. at 1801 East Indian School Road.

The company expanded, offering curbs, gutters and sidewalks to its list of services for residential subdivisions. In 1949, Krumtum hired John W. Lattimore and his younger brother, Harry, to join the new concrete division. John was the oldest of nine brothers and two sisters, with most of his brothers working in construction.

Krumtum and the Lattimores had more in common than work, as John’s younger brother, Bob, would later marry Krumtum’s daughter, Virginia. John Lattimore worked several curb and gutter projects for Krumtum, and with his blessing, left to launch John W. Lattimore Contractor, in 1951.

Keeping up with the post-World War II housing boom, Krumtum kept busy after befriending home builder, John F. Long. The

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Left: Jim Krumtum and Bert Guinn with new Northwest cable shovel, 1951.

Top right: 1950 Krumtum curb stamp in John F. Long’s Palm Terrace tract at 10th Place and Glendale Avenue, 2022.

Right: Krumtum Contracting, late 1950s.

Below: Krumtum Contracting advertisement for Downing Drug Co., 1950.

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ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above: Jim Krumtum (second from left) standing by a truck with his employees, 1951.

Far left: Palm Terrace advertisement, 1950.

Left: Krumtum Contracting advertisement, 1956.

company laid curb and gutter for Long’s first tracts: Glenwood Terrace at 26th and Glendale avenues (1949), and Palm Terrace at 10th Place and Glendale in 1950.

Next came Long’s largest subdivision to date: Maryvale Park, bounded by Missouri Avenue and Bethany Home Road, from 27th to 35th avenues. From 1951-1953, SIXTY FOUR

Krumtum performed the subdivision’s curb and gutter work, along with street grading and paving. After laying the roll curb for the first phase in 1951, the company’s heavy workload led to subcontracting the remaining phases to the John W. Lattimore firm.

Krumtum Contracting secured more of Long’s work, paving streets in Maryvale Manor, at 7th and Verde (now Orangewood) avenues. Like Maryvale Park, the company won the contract for all grading and paving, but would only pave the subdivision, and subcontract the concrete to Lattimore.

Another local home builder, Hallcraft JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Image Courtesy of Joe Guinn

Above: Jim Krumtum and Bert Guinn in Krumtum’s crashed Ercoupe plane at Phoenix’a Sky Harbor Airport, 1951.

Right: Krumtum Contracting salutes Hallcraft Homes for Suncrest Estates subdivision, 1953.

Far right: John F. Long advertisement listing contractors for Maryvale Park, 1953.

Homes, was constructing Suncrest Estates south of Indian School Road and 36th Street. Krumtum Contracting performed all concrete and paving work for the new tract. Krumtum even purchased a house at 3801 East Fairmount Avenue for his family in the new subdivision.

John F. Long began the first phase of what is now Maryvale in 1954. The original tract sits north of Indian School Road from 47th to 51st avenues. Krumtum performed the grading and paving and all curb and ARIZCC.COM

gutter work in the new tract using Union Rock & Materials as the ready-mix and asphalt supplier.

Krumtum wanted to expand his services statewide, and controlling his own raw materials was key. The company operated four gravel pits around Arizona: at the Agua Fria River and Indian School Road, Casa Grande, Grey Mountain (located ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

north of Flagstaff), and Tuba City. The latter pit was owned by the Navajo Nation, and Krumtum Contracting had several projects with both the Navajo and Hopi tribes. The company made a practice of hiring local Native Americans for jobs in that region, which Krumtum often visited via his personal airplane.

In 1954 Flagstaff developer Tom Pollock launched Antelope Valley, a new subdivision west of Forest Avenue off Fort Valley Road. The subdivision’s name came from an early explorer, and street names honored various pioneers who settled in the area. Krumtum Contracting poured all curbs and gutter along with street grading and paving. The 18-acre project had 64 large lots and conformed to approved house styles designed by New York architect E.A. Tafel.

Krumtum added a partner, Cale M. Shearer, in 1955. Previously, Shearer was a vice president with Bentson Contracting and brought experience with asphalt products and road building. The partnership was short-lived, as Shearer left to start his own firm in 1957.

Krumtum Contracting continued residential work with various builders during the mid-1950s. The firm also branched out with highway work, including paving the service station and roads at Grand Canyon National Park, and built roads at the Navajo Above: Jim Krumtum (holding fire extinguisher) and head mechanic Wesley Pesterfield, 1952.

Left: Krumtum Contracting grading at Antelope Valley subdivision in Flagstaff, 1954.

Army Depot, where the military deactivated unused bombs from World War II and the Korean War. In 1958, Guinn and Pesterfield left to start AJAX Contracting Company. Krumtum, now in his 40s, subsequently downsized, taking on smaller projects and selling materials from the plants. The company suffered the loss of its Indian School pit in a dispute with the county when two dikes built by the company contributed to the collapse of a bridge over the Agua Fria River in 1980.

Krumtum later relinquished his state lease for the pit and sold his equipment.

“Jim and Bert Guinn remained civil and would help each other out,” says Joe Guinn, his son. “My dad had a saying: Jim Krumtum is the most likable guy in the world, but you better put your hand over your billfold, ‘cause he’ll walk away with it.”

Krumtum’s business idea was simple. People needed things built, so he built them. He died at 74 in 1991, having erected a significant chunk of Arizona’s post-war construction boom.

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Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

MAINTAINING A CERTAIN CHARACTER AND DIGNITY:

ARCHITECT FRED WEAVER, JR. James Logan Abell, FAIA

F

red Weaver Jr. established an architectural firm in Phoenix in 1949 that grew into one of the most prolific and respected firms in the metropolitan area.

Dozens of prominent Arizona architects can trace their professional roots back to the firm of Weaver and Drover Architects, later known as Drover, Welch & Lindlan, and finally, as it exists today, DWL Architects and Planners.

One of the firm’s most noteworthy early assignments occurred in 1955 when the State of Arizona selected Weaver and Drover along with a prominent Tempe-based firm, Kemper Goodwin Architects, to undertake master-planning efforts for the Arizona Capitol Mall. This partnership would lead to more significant projects of landmark status, representing the best SIXTY EIGHT

of current technology and construction to serve the people of Arizona.

Why were Weaver and Drover successful in mentoring architects and creating impressive buildings? Weaver was a great speaker and marketing genius. “To present a big project to a client, we needed Fred’s skills to talk about it, although he might not have known all the details,” says Hermann Jacobi, a longtime draftsman with the firm.

“He would have been able to talk about matchsticks for an hour without knowing their fine details.”

Born on August 30, 1912, in Carlsbad, New Mexico, Frederick Penn Weaver, Jr.’s interest in building likely began with his father. The latter was a construction foreman and water master for the U.S. Reclamation Service in New Mexico. Fred Weaver,

Top: Fred Weaver (right) at Weaver and Drover Architects, 1956.

Above: Fred Weaver, 1958.

Sr. moved his family to Phoenix in 1921 and continued his career in water management with the Salt River Water Users Association as a “zanjero,” ditch rider, and water JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Above: Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Terminal 2, 1964.

Left: Arizona State Capitol building, 1920s.

Images Courtesy of Author

master. Fred Weaver Jr. acquired a keen appreciation for what water resources represented in the development of a young, expanding city.

Weaver exhibited a gift for drawing and watercolor paintings in elementary school and began looking for a career that might mesh with his creative interests while attending Phoenix Union High School. In high school, he also met his future wife, Lois Ann (Maffeo) Weaver.

Lois Ann’s brother, John Maffeo, remembers Weaver as being serious and creative while participating on the debate team and playing coronet in the high school band. After graduating in 1930, Weaver studied engineering and liberal arts at Phoenix College, also participating in band, boxing team, and theater club.

Weaver graduated from Phoenix College in 1932 with an Associate of Arts degree and enrolled in architecture school at the University of Southern California.

He was a member of Alpha Rho Chi, the ARIZCC.COM

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above: St. Thomas Catholic Church, 1967.

Left: Fred Weaver and bank executive, Lee Moore inspect construction at Valley National Bank in Buckeye, 1955.

national architectural fraternity, and completed his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1936.

Fred and Lois were married in Long Beach, California, on January 2, 1937.

Weaver worked as a draftsman in Long Beach before returning to Phoenix in 1938 due to an arthritic condition in his lower spine. The humidity of Southern California and arthritis did not mix well.

Arriving back in Phoenix with a young family, Fred worked with Wallingford and Bell Architects for about two years. V.O. Wallingford was one of Arizona’s earliest licensed architects in 1922, with license #31 for all architects and engineers in the state. His partner, Orville A. Bell received Arizona License #470 in 1929.

Toward the end of his employment with Wallingford and Bell, Fred Weaver SEVENTY

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Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above & right: Valley National Bank at 44th Street and Camelback Road, 1968.

passed his licensing exams in 1940, acquiring Arizona License #946. He soon joined the Phoenix firm of Charles J. Gilmore Architect, who possessed Arizona License #381 dating from 1927. Fred Weaver was likely one of the few licensed staff members with that firm, yet at age 28 was just beginning his career.

Late in 1941, the U.S. entered World War II, and the military draft began. Weaver’s arthritis prevented him from military service, so he worked as a draftsman at the Goodyear Aircraft manufacturing plant, riding the bus daily.

It’s unclear during this period if Weaver was employed with Charles Gilmore or contracted out, but the firm was reorganized temporarily in 1942 as Gilmore, Scott, Varney and Yost. Weaver continued with the firm now known as Gilmore and Varney until Gilmore died in 1946 when the ARIZCC.COM

firm became E.L. Varney and Associates Architects.

Weaver was named an associate in the Varney practice, yet decided in 1949 to open his own firm at 1010 North 24th

Place in Phoenix. He lived in the front, with the office housed in the rear in a detached apartment and garage that he remodeled into an office. Weaver soon hired a young German immigrant named Hermann Jacobi ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above & left: ASU’s Hayden Library under construction, and completed, 1966.

as a draftsman and invited Dick Drover, AIA, also an architect from E.L. Varney, to become his partner in March of 1950.

These three men formed the backbone of the new firm Weaver and Drover Architects, and, over the next 18 years, it became one the most successful in Arizona history.

A few highlights include St. Thomas Catholic Church, 24th Street and Campbell Avenue in 1952. Weaver was a devout Catholic and the architect of St. Agnes Catholic Church at 1954 North 24th Street.

The iconic 1959 Valley National Bank at the southeast corner of 44th St. and Camelback Road showcases the virtuosity of local Valley of the Sun builders in glass and glazing, random stonework, and in particular, exquisite, cast-in-place white architectural concrete. Long claimed to have been designed by a young, unlicensed employee, Fred Weaver, FAIA was the kind of man SEVENTY TWO

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

who would share the design credit with his entire team of architects and unlicensed drafters that made all early sketch concepts a reality.

The firm was a family affair for Weaver.

He involved some of his five children, Margaret, Charlene, Kathleen, Fred III, and Virginia, in office work and construction site visits during summer breaks. Jacobi remembers Weaver as a good father, a loving husband, a perfectionist draughtsman and artist, as well as a marketing genius with civic groups of all persuasions.

“Meticulous, knowledgeable, critical, and thoughtful, he was a great spec writer and superintendent on any construction project, fair-minded, and a great speaker,” said Jacobi.

Weaver was also known for his dry, deadpan humor. For example, commenting on the City of Phoenix awarding the then unheard-of astonishing sum of $16.8 million to Del Webb Construction in 1966 for the new Phoenix Symphony Hall and Convention Center, Weaver noted, “…. that’s one helluva lot of culture.”

Weaver was advanced to the national American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 1964, a rare honor. Four years later, he died at 55 on May 30, 1968, leaving the city he loved with a treasure of unique architecture. The firm Weaver established had designed numerous Phoenix landmarks, including Phoenix Sky Harbor Terminal 2, ASU’s Hayden Library and Mall system, and dozens of banks, schools, and civic buildings. An August 1968 article in Symposia magazine noted, “…he wrote as he spoke -- softly -- this gentle man whose hands were those of an artist, whose eyes betrayed his great sensitivity. Yet, we who knew him were well aware of his lion-heart and great strength.”

For years, Weaver & Drover sponsored a travel prize for the top fourth-year ASU Architecture student to study in Europe for the summer. In addition to helping young people in the profession, legions of accomplished Arizona architects started their careers with Weaver and Drover, including AIA Arizona Fellows George Christensen, FAIA, James Abell, FAIA, and Paul Winslow, FAIA. And the man who started it all, Fred Weaver, FAIA, will perhaps be remembered most for his vision for the city he loved. “He was concerned about this young city and wanted to make sure that in its growth, it maintained a certain character and dignity,” says Charlene Weaver Joehnk, his daughter. How fitting, too, that “growth with character and dignity” seemed to be something that Fred Weaver did so well with his career and life.

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Have an idea for a Construction or History article? contact us: Billy Horner, Publisher: Billy@arizcc.com Douglas Towne, Editor: Douglas@arizcc.com

Visit us online at: www.arizcc.com

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OLD SCHOOL EQUIPMENT:

The LeTourneau Rooter Billy Horner

L

L e To u r n e a u was among a handful of manufacturers to produce the towed cable rooter, called a “ripper.”

Their attachment provided a lowcost method of breaking up the ground, whether soil, rock, or some combination. LeTourneau’s Rooter was pulled behind a crawler where the operator would control the rooter shank with levers connected to a steel braided cable system. Each model allowed the shanks to be adjustable and removable for different job applications.

These attachments became popular with contractors, with several often used on larger road projects. LeTourneau offered rooters in three sizes, with the K30 being the largest at 13,100 pounds.

The State Tractor & Equipment Company, located at 815 East Jefferson Street, was Arizona’s local dealer for the

LeTourneau Rooter and other LeTourneau-Westinghouse equipment lines. The cable rooter/ripper style was widespread, with several manufacturers producing a version, until hydraulic models became available in the late 1950s.

Above: LeTourneau Rooter advertisement, 1940s.

Below: Tucson’s San Xavier Rock & Sand moving dirt for the Hughes Aircraft plant in Tucson. Their Cat D9 dozer is equipped with a LeTourneau blade attachment (headache bar) and ripper while pushing a LeTourneau scraper, 1951.

Left: A diecast toy LeTourneau ripper.

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

ong before contractors had the luxury of hydraulic ripping options to loosen soil, humans opted for animal-driven plows for tilling the soil to plant crops. Over time, a more powerful version was invented for laborers who had to loosen dirt and rock for road building.

LeTourneau-Westinghouse Company was based in Texas and founded by R.G. LeTourneau in 1929. The company designed and supplied manufacturers with innovative attachments for their equipment. LeTourneau evolved into manufacturing heavy equipment, which became popular in the construction industry.

SEVENTY SIX

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Above: Fisher Contracting using a LeTourneau rooter on the Mogollon Rim, 1957.

Below: San Xavier Rock & Sand equipment using the LeTourneau ripper attachment at the Hughes Aircraft plant in Tucson, 1951.

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Building on the Past 1956: FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF ARIZONA BUILDING Douglas Towne

I

n 1956, it was hard not to notice the new nine-story First National Bank of Arizona Building at 411 North Central Avenue in Downtown Phoenix. The neon sign atop its three-story rooftop bulkhead, which covered the building’s machinery and water tanks, was the largest sign in the state. People more than 25 miles away claimed to see its 100-foot-long neon beacon.

The bulkhead’s east and west sides featured the bank’s name in giant neon letters. The bank’s logo, an outline of the state containing a 21-foot-high “1st,” was on the north and south sides. The porcelain enamel sign was leased from Electrical Products Corp, located at 1555 Grand Avenue, and took three months to install.

Architect William D. Reed of Dallas designed the building, the largest office structure in Arizona, and the adjacent three-story, 600-car parking garage.

James Stewart Company, an international firm with an office in Phoenix, was the general contractor. The construction material consisted of reinforced concrete supplied by Arizona Sand & Rock Company. Excavators moved more than 30,000 cubic yards of earth to construct the building’s foundations.

The two main entrances featured carved cement murals consisting of 650 component tiles, created by Texas artist Buck Winn. In the grand hall were seven murals called The Foundation of Confidence, painted

by Phoenix artist Jay Datus.

PAGE

The murals depicted the story of human progress in Arizona: “The foundations of confidence are in Heaven and Earth, but each man builds his own.”

On opening day, a stagecoach driven by the owner of Bud Brown’s Barn, and guarded by Maricopa County Sheriff L.C. Boies and members of his posse, ushered in the bank’s first customer.

First National Bank of Arizona was chartered in 1887 and previously headquartered in the

Fleming Building at First Avenue and Washington Street. At the time, the bank had 24 branches in Arizona. In 2008, the bank was closed by federal regulators, and Mutual of Omaha Bank purchased its assets.

Arizona Public Service purchased the bank’s building for its headquarters in 1971. In 1997, APS sold the building and donated Datus’ murals to the Mesa Southwest Museum. New owners rechristened the building as the 411 Building. In 2004, it became the University Center of ASU Downtown, an administrative and student-services facility that anchors the downtown campus. Reportedly, a belowground bank vault still exists in the building but is unlikely to contain any loot.

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Left: The First National Bank of Arizona building during construction, 1955.

Above: The state’s largest neon sign advertised the bank, 1956.

Right: The bank’s grand opening, 1956.

Mid right: Hugh Gruwell, bank chairman, at the grand opening, 1956.

Bottom right: In 1964, the bank displayed the ship’s bell from the USS Arizona, which sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

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T

he Carnegie Public Library has been an impressive edifice on the State government mall fronting Washington Street since 1908. Aligned on the main east-west boulevard that connects Downtown Phoenix with the Arizona State Capitol, mystery surrounds this handsome community resource. Let’s explore its origins to understand how it came to fruition and the evolution of its uses.

The building’s story begins with Andrew Carnegie, an extremely wealthy industrialist and philanthropist. This Scotsman moved to Pennsylvania in 1848 and built the nation’s largest steel manufacturing company. He started his philanthropy, which included establishing free public libraries in 1870. Carnegie sold his steel company to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for the sum of $450 million, which equates to about $303 trillion today.

Carnegie, who would become “The Patron Saint of Public Libraries,” then founded a corporation that would eventually fund 2,509 libraries worldwide, including 1,679 in the U.S. In Arizona, Carnegie

Phoenix’s Carnegie Public Library: A Legacy of Learning Doug Sydnor, FAIA

Doug_sydnor@outlook.com grants built four libraries whose funding levels reflected the communities’ populations: Prescott ($4,000) in 1899, Tucson ($25,000) in 1899, Phoenix ($25,000) in 1904, and Yuma ($10,000) in 1917.

The four-acre parcel for a Carnegie Public Library in Phoenix at 1100 West Washington Street, called Neahr’s Park, was donated by Mr. Neahr. To design the library, the city commissioned architect William R. Norton, who had created the W.R. Norton House at 2222 West Washington in 1895, located within the West Capital Addition subdivision. Norton came to Phoenix from Los Angeles to recover from pneumonia and had designed an apartment building in Sunnyslope, a tuberculosis camp located

north of Phoenix. He is also known for his architecture in Globe, Prescott, and Winslow.

The Phoenix City Council wanted to revise Norton’s design and hired William H. Reeves at Reeves & Baillie, a Peoria, Illinois-based architectural firm. In 1906, for unknown reasons, the project was given to local architect James M. Creighton of Millard & Creighton. The plans were approved in April 1905, and construction was completed for the library’s dedication on February 14, 1908.

Carnegie Library, a tall one-story structure with a fully finished basement, is a prominent focal piece in a landscaped park with shade trees. The building is entered

Images Courtesy of Michelle Dodds

Below: Carnegie Public Library north entry.

Architect’s Perspective:

EIGHTY TWO

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Images Courtesy of Michelle Dodds

Above: Carnegie Public Library entry doors.

Right: Carnegie Public Library south exposure.

from the north side with a rising grand staircase of concrete flanked by a pair of tall cast iron lanterns that leads to a recessed sheltered entry.

At the entrance is a grand lobby topped with a decorated circular skylight. From this vantage point, the public can view through arched openings all the library’s internal offerings, with staff strategically positioned to assist the public.

The library’s floor plan is symmetrical, with the first level for two offices, a reading room, a reference desk, a kitchen, a lounge, and restrooms. Within the semi-circular section are steel-framed book stacks in a

radiating spoke plan that can accommodate 7,000 books with the capacity to grow to 15,000 books. The lower level housed offices, a children’s area in the round section, a state depository for government documents, and utilitarian spaces for storage, boiler, and electrical services.

The building is a stout mass with a confident presence and has its scale broken down with pedimented elevations to Right above: Carnegie Public Library lobby.

Right: Carnegie Public Library skylight.

Below: Carnegie Public Library west exposure.

the east and west and a cylindrical drumshaped form to the south. Exterior elevations are composed of a base and mid-section and capped with a rounded dome, providing horizontal layering. All building exposures introduce sizable vertical windows that generously bathed the interiors with natural lighting for reading.

Exterior materials exploit a 12-inch red-colored brick and develop numerous crafted details. The window lintels have a flared brick pattern and keystone, a shifted molding trim, and wrap-around coursing at the main entrance and outside corners. An ornate and projected wood cornice cap the overall composition. Natural stone units ARIZCC.COM

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Far left: Doug Sydnor, FAIA, John Jacquemart, and James Trahan, AIA, consider the structure for a “Building Archives, Museum and Library.”

Left: Carnegie Public Library lower-level water heater.

Below: Carnegie Public Library exterior main entry.

EIGHTY FOUR

to Carnegie, a “catalyst of enlightenment and coalescing of communities and individ- Douglas B. Sydnor, FAIA: is a Principal at uals across the nation.” He supported and Douglas Sydnor Architect + Associates, Inc. sponsored library construction to allow and author of three architectural books.

Images Courtesy of Michelle Dodds

are used at window sills and as low stem walls at grade. The first floor is expressed on the exterior with a light grey concrete band.

For 50 years, the Carnegie Library served Phoenix, and its architecture has also effectively communicated its civic importance. It was the city’s main library until 1952 when a new library was built at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and McDowell Road. The Carnegie Library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and restored for $1.3 million in 1984.

In 1985, the state signed a long-term lease for the use of the facility. Since then, the library has been used as a recreation hall, social service center, storage facility, homeless shelter, Arizona Hall of Fame Museum, Arizona State Library Administration and Museum, and Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame.

In recent years, the Carnegie Library has been mostly unused. As the 2022 Chairman of the Architectural Archives Committee with the Arizona Architecture Foundation, we hoped to use it as a “Building Archives, Museum, and Library,” which is in keeping with its original intentions and does respect the current state lease conditions.

This need is vital as minimal architectural archive storage is available in Maricopa County to receive donations. Many architects are the keepers of vast design libraries (including myself), and no local institutions accept donations, given the current technical bias toward digital materials. It would be wonderful if the entire Arizona design, engineering, and construction community came together to use this fine architectural masterpiece to protect original architectural archives, documents, and resources.

These public libraries were, according

access to books for those who desired to learn, along with providing immigrants with cultural knowledge of the country. “Whatever agencies for good may rise or fall in the future, it seems certain that the Free Library is destined to stand and become a never-ceasing foundation of good to all the inhabitants,” Carnegie said. His vision of a “Legacy of Libraries” that was free and accessible to people came true. Phoenix citizens have been direct beneficiaries of the 1908 library, which has spawned a network of 13 city libraries in Phoenix.

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Left: Bert Guinn with his son, Joe, sitting on a Krumtum Contracting truck, early 1954.

Above: Joe Guinn dressed up, 1958.

Below: Ajax Contracting moving earth for a new subdivision at 40th Street and Broadway Road, early 1970s.

DIGGING THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: JOE GUINN

Y

ou know that someone was born into a profession when you see baby pictures of them on the job with their father. Joe Guinn, like many others from his generation, fits this description. As a kid, Guinn longed to join the adults working on construction projects, and eventually, he carved out a career in the field.

Arizona Contractor & Community magazine covered Guinn in our Spring 2014 issue. We’ll revisit his career since he recently retired from S&S Paving & Construction after 24 years of service on August 18, 2021. Guinn’s father, Bert, also played a significant role in Krumtum Contracting, which is also covered in this issue (see page 62).

I first became aware of Ajax Contracting, where Guinn started his career after seeing its concrete sidewalk stamps around Phoenix in 2014. Arizona concrete expert Lonnie Lattimore referred me to Guinn.

“His family was Ajax, and they have been working here for decades,” he said.

Joe Guinn and I met at S&S Paving, and he brought along old photos that included EIGHTY SIX

Images Courtesy of Joe Guinn

Billy Horner

Guinn’s a low-key guy with an extensive background in contracting and estimating. “In 1959, there was an operator’s strike that lasted three months, resulting in several jobs being shut down,” he says.

That’s when this 8-year-old earned his first paycheck of $6.50 for two weeks of work keeping things moving during the strike. some of Krumtum Contracting. “Jim Krum“In 1975, Ajax Contracting decided to tum was my uncle, and before Ajax, my dad cut ties with the operator’s union and con[Bert] and Jim worked together,” Guinn tinued working out of town in Wickenburg, says.

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2023

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Tucson, Lukeville, and Kayenta,” Guinn says. After his father retired in 1979, Guinn took command of Ajax.

During the 1970s, Ajax Contracting had contracts with the City of Phoenix.

“My dad, Bert, told Johnny Newell, GM at Union Rock & Materials, of a big project coming up,” Guinn says. “He asked if they would use their ready-mix trucks to pull a sled they developed, which formed the sidewalks using no forms.”

With a donated load of concrete furnished by Union Rock, Ajax Contracting sold the idea to city officials during a trial run. During the demonstration, Ajax would stop operations by changing the chains holding the sled to meander the sidewalk when needed. “We did five-to-six projects for the city’s big push on bike paths. We were pouring 350 yards for an 8-foot sidewalk a day,” he says.

Guinn operated Ajax until 1992, then retired to take care of his kids and work on side projects so his wife, Peggy, could have a career.

Image Courtesy of Joe Guinn

Right: Ajax Contracting’s entrance at its former office at 3011 West Whitton Ave, 1975.

Below: Shane Zellner, Bert Guinn, Dennis Scholes (in the truck), and Joe Guinn (l-r), working in Wickenburg, 1978.

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Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

and the two created bids within $5 of each other. Guinn worked there for 24 years and developed an Excel spreadsheet in the late 1990s to set up a bid program, which he improved over time.

“There were many projects that stood out during my time at S&S,” Guinn says.

“I was proud of an office complex/commercial development project we did for Wespac at 91st and Glendale avenues. This job was one of the bigger projects I was involved with early on.”

Images Courtesy of Joe Guinn

Hunter Contracting eventually lured Guinn back to construction. He operated equipment for the company, working on waste and sewer treatment systems for five years.

Guinn’s job as an estimator for S&S Paving in 1997 resulted from his long-time friendship with Chuck Cassie, who worked there. Cassie mentioned Guinn to Rand Slawson, who was then the company’s president and looking to fill the position.

Slawson tested Guinn’s estimating skills,

EIGHTY EIGHT

Retirement suits Guinn, as he enjoys spending time with his wife and family, attending soccer games, and supporting his grandchildren. “I feel blessed having active kids and grandchildren,” he says. Guinn and his wife traveled 6,000 miles while touring the U.S. in 2022 and even ventured to Hawaii.

But Guinn does miss the camaraderie of working with different people and contractors in various construction industry sectors. “I loved solving problems,” he says.

“You must be open to progress and new things but keep the principles from the past.”

Guinn particularly enjoyed establishing lasting relationships with clients.

“You’re only as good as your word. Anyone can do this job, but it’s your word that sets you apart.”

For Guinn’s last day on the job, Bill Jones, president of S&S Paving, held a retirement party at the Vig. Employees of Hancock Homes, Wespac Construction, material suppliers, and coworkers came together to honor Guinn in what was a first for the paving company.

“I’m technically the first employee to retire from S&S,” he says with a laugh.

Above: Ajax Contracting paving crew, 1970s.

Far left: Happy hour at Guinn’s home in Moon Mountain Vistas, 2019.

Left: Joe Guinn fishing on vacation, 2019.

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BID RESULTS NOV/DEC 2022

JANUARY FEBUARY 1988

Ocotillo Improvements Sossaman/Hawes DCS Contracting Inc. $14,380,000 11/3/22

Apache Junction Idaho Rd Combs Construction Co. $2,125,287 11/18/22

(CMAR) Pavement Preservation Sunland Asphalt - AZ $3,400,000 11/30/22

Pentad, Tempe $622,778 Utilities Superstition Freeway Power Rd. to Ellsworth Rd.

McKellips Rd Loop 101 Alma School Ph1 Pulice Construction - AZ $11,097,774 11/4/22

Maricopa Anderson Rd Combs Construction Co. $1,759,779 11/18/22

(DB) North Marana Sewer Interceptor Borderland Construction Co $5,000,000 11/30/22

Buesing, Phoenix $1.03 Mil Freeway Utility Crossing Ellsworth and Signal Butte

Casa Grande Cottonwood Ln William Charles Construction - AZ $357,866 11/4/22

Santa Cruz Pendleton Dr Ashton - AZ $1,982,289 11/18/22

Palo Verde Elementary School Site IOI Construction Corp $657,585 11/30/22

Granite Construction, Tucson $461,163 New Roadway Paving and Taxilane Tucson Airport

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Rancho Grande Water Main Replacement Innova Group $1,968,219 11/22/22

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K.I.P., Tempe $378,900 Lateral 4 Modifications Maricopa County Water District

Public Works Facility Willmeng Construction $4,696,000 11/9/22

Royal Road Water Main Replacement Innova Group $2,828,408 11/22/22

Wastewater Collection System Rehabilitation TF Contracting Services $2,730,449 11/30/22

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Skagestad Construction, Tucson $181,390 Water Distribution System Valency Armory

AZ FLAP SR181 Chiricahua Access Road West Point Contractors Inc. $11,941,016 11/17/22

Villago Middle School Grading Drainage IOI Construction Corp $744,032 11/30/22

Cordes Junction Flagstaff SR 169 Sema Construction - AZ $2,894,678 12/2/22

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