Douglas Towne Before the Valley hosted major league teams in luxurious stadiums, local sports fans reveled in homegrown competitions...

Douglas Towne Construction machinery not only moves mountains, it can become a part of pop culture. One equipment line, the...

In the 96-page May/June issue of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, we focus on two “Papago” places vital to Phoenix. We trace how...

by Douglas Towne “Go West, young man,” was the prudent advice journalist Horace Greeley gave Americans looking for economic opportunities...

John Bueker When Eugene “Jim” Cunning passed on in 2020 at the age of 86, the sad event did not garner much local attention. But it...

John Bueker Who got the ball rolling by creating the Valley's first miniature golf course is open to debate, but we know that Phoenix...

Like another Valley publication, Arizona Contractor & Community Magazine decided to spotlight the medical field for our March/April...

Douglas Towne The theme for this issue is “Leisure,” so it seemed only appropriate to write a column that wouldn't require too much work....

Douglas Towne A mystical magic carpet experience, a la Prince Husain of "One Thousand and One Nights" fame, was available for 15 cents...

Cory Jorbin It's no secret that the labor market is very tight in specific industries and regions of the country. Currently, the...

William Horner Mark Habgood recalls a steep learning curve when he transitioned from working at Neptune’s Table, a seafood restaurant at...

Doug Sydnor, FAIA Scottsdale residents realized their quality of life was under threat in 1991. The pristine McDowell Mountains, a...

Douglas Towne Few in the construction industry have such a rags-to-riches story as Delbert “Del” Eugene Webb. A few years before the...

To kick off 2022, we decided to kick back with an issue devoted to leisure featuring Del Webb giving Joltin Joe DiMaggio some batting...

Tom Pickrell You see it coming while driving along I-17 in Phoenix near the Dunlap Avenue exit. A bright green and white superstructure...

What's crazier: using atomic bombs to mine copper, a ginormous salt mine under a city, extracting iron from a giant *sandbox* or...

By Douglas Towne Great hotel nicknames are usually the result of innovative marketing campaigns or are obvious, such as San Diego's Hotel...

By Douglas Towne Downtown Phoenix was the city’s commercial district until the 1960s, and one unique store stood out. The business, which...

Jeff Kronenfeld Paul Brock was one of the biggest names in underground contracting in the Valley during the 1960s and 1970s. His company,...

James Logan Abell, FAIA Jumping on rail cars to travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of work, this man was no ordinary 1930’s...

Doug Sydnor, FAIA Growing up in Phoenix, I noticed some innovative architecture created by an unknown individual. Many years later, I...

Tom Pickrell Marion John Evertsen was a prominent masonry contractor in Phoenix for more than 30 years, starting in the 1950s. Largely...

Luke M. Snell, P.E. An inspector recently contacted me regarding some concrete loads that exceeded air-content specifications. The...

Carly Hanson Husband and wife Bob and Peggy Piske started a power-generation company in 1990. Thirty-one years later, it’s an industry...

Aircraft Plating Co. was flying high in 1969. The firm, founded in 1963 at 1313 South 26th Street, was having a new 20,000 square-foot...

Buddy Escapule In 2017, I took my father and sons to Casa Grande to examine a 1971 Caterpillar J621 paddle wheel scraper for sale. The...

Sean Clements With convenient access to the border, Arizona has a high rate of construction equipment theft. And with the state’s...

William Horner According to Vance Grubb III, nothing tops a great job in construction except going into business for yourself. A...

William Horner Philip Chesley has encountered some unforgettable people while working in the paving field, including a man wearing gold...

Drew Simmons The construction industry has always been a competitive landscape for small and large contractors alike. Now, with the...

Is the just-released 80-page Sep/Oct issue of Arizona Contractor & Community Magazine a history publication masquerading as a...

Michelle Dodds Concrete denotes something solid, with great strength, and permanence. Perhaps that’s why there was such a clamor way-back...

After two years in the concrete industry, Ed Wagner of Portland, Oregon, realized the need for a more efficient way to handle the heavy...

“Do it big, do it right, and do it with style,” said actor Fred Astaire. Apparently, famed Valley developer John F. Long was listening....

Jennifer M. Levstik Even the most innocuous objects have stories to tell. Tucson’s El Presidio Fountain is one of them. Constructed at...

Luke M. Snell, P.E. When I was a young engineer, one of my first jobs was to provide quality control for a lightweight concrete project....

Doug Sydnor, FAIA Concrete is not only a long-lasting material; humans have also used it for a long time. Its origins are a concrete-like...

Heather M. David I am a blockhead. A mid-century modern (MCM) blockhead. I have been one for as long as I can remember. I started...

Luke M. Snell, P.E. The Boulder Canyon Project, now called the Hoover Dam, was awarded to The Six Companies in the spring of 1931. For...

Douglas Towne “I loved spending time with my dad hunting, camping, or any other activity,” Phil Chesley says about his father, Elmo...

William Horner I recently connected with a family with an impressive legacy of truck driving in the Valley. This linkage occurred when I...

In this 96-page “cementitious” July/Aug issue of Arizona Contractor & Community Magazine, we’ve focused on a building material that is...

Q&A with Brent Meyers, Vice President of Sales for Comdata What are the key shifts commercial construction companies have made in the way...

There’s nothing as appetizing as nostalgia, at least where Helsing's Coffee Shops are concerned. The four Phoenix-based restaurants were...

By Douglas Towne Some Valley residents probably know Bentson Contracting Co. only from its sidewalk stamps around the city. That’s a...

By Jason Krankota Construction has been one of the slowest industries to adopt technology. That’s partly cultural: folks in the industry...

By Ross Kimbarovsky Construction is a popular industry, but it has a high failure rate as more than 60 percent of businesses close within...

By Luke M. Snell, P.E. A concrete precaster recently contacted me with problems from bubbles forming during casting and white streaking...

By Michael Bernstein This is the story of an Environmental Health & Safety manager who was so preoccupied with current operations at his...