Owen, Ames and Kimball
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The construction company was founded in 1891 as
Hauser, Hayden and Owen and occupied a small structure on Ottawa Avenue until
1910 when it was razed to allow an addition to the Michigan Trust Company which
was later the residence of MacNaughton-Greenawalt Company. In 1922, OAK erected a building for themselves on Pearl Street. One of the first large buildings they constructed was a brewery at Ionia and Michigan. In 1910 they built the city water works. In 1900, George M. Ames joined the company and it became known as Hauser, Owen and Ames. At that time they built the Hazeltine and Perkins building as well as the Keeler building. The company was incorporated in 1908 and in 1918 the name was changed to Owen, Ames and Kimball. Dan Kimball joined the company in 1907. They were responsible for building many of the downtown buildings as well as some in the suburbs including: 1914 - Y.M.C.A., South High School, the Peninsular Club, G. R. Savings Bank (now Peoples National Bank Building), the Steketee building. Other construction include: Butterworth Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital, Rowe Hotel, Morton House, Sunshine Sanatorium, G. R. National Bank building, Michigan National Bank building, Ottawa Hills High School, Burton School and the Exhibitors Building. The Grand Rapids Trust Company (now Michigan National Bank Building), one of the most imposing structures, only took about a year to build, Imperial Furniture, Kresge's, Woolworth's, McInerney Spring and Wire Company, the Civic Auditorium, Herpolsheimer's and the Hekman plant are further examples of their enterprise. Another endeavor was the construction of almost one thousand buildings at Ft. Custer in 1940 for the Quartermaster Corps. |
Scanned by: ES
Created: 24 April 2009