Lockwood, Greene & Co.

The firm that would become Lockwood, Greene & Company was established in 1871 in Boston as the mechanical engineering practice of Amos D. Lockwood. Lockwood, a native of Rhode Island, was self-trained in mechanical engineering and had extensive experience managing textile manufacturing and construction operations. Extenuating circumstances obligated him to move his residence to Providence in 1873 to manage his manufacturing interests.[1]

His office remained in Boston until 1875, when he relocated it to Providence, where he established A. D. Lockwood & Company to manage all of his business interests. His partner was John W. Danielson, his son-in-law, who had at least fifteen years of similar experience. In 1879 Lockwood hired the engineer Stephen Greene,[lower-alpha 1] formerly associated with civil engineers Niles B. Schubarth and David M. Thompson. March 1, 1882, a new partnership was organized between Lockwood, Danielson and Greene, known as Lockwood, Greene & Company. Lockwood died January 16, 1884, in Providence. In 1886 Greene moved to Newburyport to be closer to the firm's business interests. In 1889 Danielson retired, selling his interest to Greene. The following January Greene moved the office to Boston, where it would remain. Lockwood, Greene & Company was incorporated January 1, 1901, in Massachusetts. Stephen Greene was the first president, and Frank E. Shedd the first vice president. Stephen Greene died unexpectedly November 7, 1901, at his home in Newton Center, where he had lived since relocating in 1890.[lower-alpha 2] His eldest son, Edwin Farnham Greene, was elected president in January, 1902.[lower-alpha 3]

In 1892 George W. Stevens, former engineer for the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Manchester, New Hampshire, was hired as general superintendent of construction for southern work.[3] When Stevens died in 1897,[lower-alpha 4] Joseph Emory Sirrene of Greenville, South Carolina, was hired as his replacement the following year. In 1899, when a southern office was established, it was established at Greenville under Sirrene's direction.[1]

The first twenty years of Edwin F. Greene's presidency was a period of major growth of the company. Lockwood, Greene & Company had established its first branch office in 1899, at Greenville, South Carolina, to serve as the firm's southern office. This was followed by a third office in Chicago in 1911,[4] and in 1912 the southern office was relocated to Atlanta[1] and the Boston office was moved into the new First National Bank Annex at 60 State Street,[lower-alpha 5] taking three full floors of the new building.[6] In 1913 offices were added in Montreal[7] and New York.[8] In 1919, after the close of World War I, offices were added at Cleveland, Detroit and Paris, the latter to manage reconstruction work. In 1920, offices were added at Charlotte and Philadelphia. In 1923, the southern headquarters was moved from Atlanta to Spartanburg, though the Atlanta office was retained.[1]

In 1915, Greene organized a new Lockwood, Greene & Company Inc., with four subsidiary companies: Lockwood, Greene & Company, engineers, for design and construction; Lockwood, Greene & Company, managers, for management of manufacturing facilities owned or leased by the firm; Lockwood, Greene & Company of Canada Ltd. for foreign work; and the Greelock Company, a holding company for mill securities.[1]

In 1918 Frank W. Reynolds, an employee since 1885 and head of the drafting room since the 1890s, encouraged the establishment of an architectural department. To lead this, in early 1919 Walter W. Cook was hired.[lower-alpha 6] This new department was in charge of exterior design in collaboration with the firm's other engineers.[1]

In the 1920s, textile manufacturing revenues declined in New England and elsewhere, leaving the firm in a precarious financial condition. In early 1926, with the company under the control of a creditor's committee, the engineering and management subsidiaries were dissolved, their assets merged with those of the parent company. Edwin F. Green stepped down as president, and Albert L. Scott,[lower-alpha 7] chairman of the former engineering subsidiary, succeeded him. Several branch offices were closed. These changes proved to be insufficient, and conditions worsened. By 1928, only the engineering department was generating a profit. As a result of these realities, in 1928 the firm was again reorganized. A new holding company, Building Engineers Inc., was formed by the directors, to which the engineering department sold. This new organization was then named Lockwood Greene Engineers Inc.[11] Within a month, Lockwood, Greene & Company gave up management of its remaining mills, effective October 1, 1928, leaving the old firm solely a holding company for mill securities.[12] Additionally, at this time the New York office was designated headquarters in place of Boston.[1]

In the reorganization the architectural department was merged with the engineers, and Walter W. Cook and his chief assistant George F. Blount left to establish their own firm, known as Cook & Blount, in New York.[1] Their work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.[13]

After the death of Scott in 1946 his replacement as president was Chester S. Allen.[14][lower-alpha 8] In 1949 Allen was succeeded by Samuel B. Lincoln.[lower-alpha 9][15] William J. Heiser was elected president in 1955,[lower-alpha 10][16] J. Robert Potter in 1961,[lower-alpha 11][17] and H. Morgan Rogers Jr. in 1968.[18] In the decades after World War II, the company once again grew rapidly.[1]

In 1973, Morgan moved the headquarters to Spartanburg from New York.[19] In 1981 Lockwood Greene was acquired by Philipp Holzmann AG, a German contractor. In 1982, Donald R. Luger was elected president to succeed Morgan.[20] In January 1999 Holzmann merged Lockwood Greene with J.A. Jones Construction of Charlotte, North Carolina, a property of Holzmann since 1979.[21] The last president of the company was Fred M. Brune, named to that office in June of the same year.[22] Holzmann declared insolvency not long after and was liquidated in 2002. Facing its own problems, Jones declared bankruptcy in 2003, after which Lockwood Greene was sold to CH2M Hill at a cost of $95.5 million.[23] In 2007 the firm was renamed CH2M Hill Engineers. It became CH2M Engineers in 2015, and was folded into Jacobs Engineering Group in 2017 along with the rest of CH2M.