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Vance Brothers
purchased Street Oil Company in 1953. During
the late 1950s they ran it as Table Rock
Asphalt and did small chip and seal jobs,
water line jobs and started a small ready
mix concrete operation. The late 1950s saw
the addition of a silo so bulk cement could
be brought in by railcar and 10’X 12’ office
was built at the RR tracks on Commercial
Street. |
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In May
of 1961 Harles Simmons took over as manager
of what was then a ten employee operation.
His first order of business was to clean up
the existing equipment and that resulted in
$15,000 of expense that year that put the
company in the red. Later in 1961 the
company put it’s first barge in Lake
Taneycomo to start dredging sand and gravel
to use as aggregate and for sale. The early
60s saw most of the contractors start using
ready mix concrete for footings and for
foundations which put the ready mix
operation on a “sound footing”. The plant at
that time was an operation with a skip
hopper that the drivers slid under the bin,
filled the hopper and slid it over to dump
in the mixer. That procedure was repeated
until the required amounts were in the
mixer. |
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| 1962 saw the
addition of land for a shop near the office
and on December 21, 1962 the company was
incorporated as Table Rock Asphalt
Construction Co., Inc. by Harold Vance,
Leonard Vance and Harles Simmons. |
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The
first pieces of property were purchased on
Hwy 248 in 1963 and 1964 for what would
become limestone Quarry #1. The demand for
concrete aggregate was exceeding what the
dredging operation could produce and a
gradual change to limestone aggregate took
place. The demand for aggregates continued
to increase as development on Table Rock
Lake increased in the sixties. |
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An old boat dock
and property near the RR bridge was
purchased in 1966 and a 1 Ton Hot Mix batch
plant was constructed as the asphalt
operation added the installation of Hot Mix
surfaces to its services.
The continued growth of The Kimberling City
area prompted the placement of Quarry #2 on
Hwy 76 a mile east of Hwy 13 in 1968. |
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In 1970
it was agreed to purchase a used ready mix
plant to replace the old skip hopper plant
in downtown Branson. Harold Vance and Harles
Simmons both purchased used plants on the
same day, which resulted in one plant being
moved to Sycamore Street in Branson and the
other being operated in Savannah, Mo. for a
few years before being sold. Land in
Lakeview (now Branson West) was purchased in
1972 and a ready mix plant was opened there.
As the two operations grew the truck fleet
was expanded to serve both areas. The first
underground mining was completed at Quarry
#1 in 1971 and 1972 as an area was shot out
for and underground shop. A warehouse and
storage area was later added and joined to
the shop and still serves the company today.
The constant year around temperature of
about 65 degrees demonstrated the usefulness
of the mined out space. |
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In 1977 the sand
and gravel operation had to move from leased
land which prompted the purchase of a larger
asphalt plant to be installed at Quarry #1
and the moving of the gravel plant to the
property by the RR bridge on Lake Taneycomo
where the original hot mix plant had been. |
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Next an
existing ready mix plant on Hwy OO near
Kimberling City was purchased in 1979 and it
served the area until 1984 when 210 acres
was purchased north of Kimberling City on
Hwy 13. Quarry #3 was opened on that
property with the addition of a concrete
plant at that location. Quarry #2, the
Lakeview plant and the OO Hwy plant were all
replaced by the new location. The Branson
Ready Mix plant was extensively remodeled in
1981 with the addition of updated additive
capabilities, additional material storage
and the first computer batching system in
the lakes area. |
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The
first production underground mining was
started in 1983 and in 1984 crushing
equipment was purchased so the company could
control the quality of aggregate it used and
sold. The underground allowed the mine to
stay in proven seams of rock and provided
consistent materials as well as preserved
most of the surface of the property in an
area where the beauty of the area was a big
part of the economy. |
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| The early 90s
brought the Branson “Boom” and the company
added the first new ready mix plant as well
as the first new crushing equipment at
Quarry #1. A larger asphalt plant was also
added at Quarry #1 and the fleet of mixers
and dump trucks was enlarged. In a few years
the company had added several times the
total investment in equipment up until that
time. |
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The
size and complexity of the jobs grew. Ready
Mix was supplied for highway bridges,
concrete water towers, multi-story parking
garages, major hospital expansions and
numerous theatres and multi-story motels.
The company and employees attained a level
of expertise that is unusual in small
population areas.
A new company was formed in 1992 (Southwest
Materials, Inc) and a ready mix operation
was opened near 65 Hwy on CC Hwy in Ozark,
Mo. The addition of that plant allows the
company to serve the rapidly expanding home
market in that area and gives the company
added flexibility with the additional trucks
available at both locations as needed. |
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The two
companies now employ in excess of 120 people
and the growth in the skills and expertise
of these people along with the constant
philosophy and ethics of the ownership are
the solid foundation that will allow the
company to serve the needs of the entire
area for many years to come. |
