by RACHEL HAGENBAUGH
RECORD-COURIER REPORTER
Mantua -- A family-owned construction firm in Mantua is marking a milestone -- 100 years in business.
The history of Stamm Contracting Co. stretches back to 1913 when Shalersville resident Archie Stamm started the business with a homemade cement mixer and a borrowed shovel. Now the company, with more than 20 employees, is celebrating its anniversary.
"My grandfather had a story about when he started the business," said Ellie Stamm, Archie's granddaughter and current president of the company. "Payroll was about $100 per week."
The company started as an agricultural construction company in Shalersville. By 1926, Stamm Contracting moved to Mantua and began delivering ready-mixed concrete to other contractors.
"Within the last 25 years we've put a big emphasis on the ready-mixed concrete," Stamm said. "That's a large part of our business now."
Archie Stamm was well-known for writing his own advertisements for the Record-Courier, which included rhymes, brief histories of the business and other upbeat eye catchers.
In an interview with the Record-Courier before he died, he said working during the Great Depression was hard, but he always made time to take his children on vacation, even when there was seven of them.
He ran the business with his three sons -- Paul, Roy and Ted Stamm -- for many years. When Roy and Ted passed away and Archie retired, Paul ran the business with daughter Ellie and his son Hal.
"Growing up, it was my entire family," Stamm said. "Everyone was involved in the business."
Since 2008, Ellie has been solely running the business. Recently, her 27-year-old son, Quinn Novotny, started working for the company, handling a lot of the administrative functions.
"He's learning all the aspects of the business," Stamm said. "He will definitely be part of the next phase."
According to information provided by Stamm Contracting Co., it has built more than 30 buildings, including the 18,000-square-foot IGA Supermarket in Garrettsville in 1997, Hiram water treatment plant in 1994, Crown Mold and Machine in Streetsboro and the silo at Larry Lietzow's farm in Mantua Township in 1924, which is the oldest structure built by the firm.
Email: rhagenbaugh@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-541-9400 ext. 4162
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