THE READY MIXED CONCRETE
COMPANY STORY

The History of Ready Mixed Concrete Company dates back close to the turn of the 20^th century. It is a colorful account of the development of a well-managed and maintained business. Long ago, an ambitious young man, named John W. Brannan discovered a sand and gravel deposit while driving his streetcar to the turntable at 48^th and Brighton Boulevard. With the skills that he had acquired throughout his employment, he was determined to one day start his own business. He was intrigued with the sand and gravel business and thought it would one day become an extremely lucrative business. So, with the small amount of money he had saved, he purchased a mule and a wagon and began delivering sand to the foundries in lower downtown Denver. The J.W. Brannan Sand and Gravel Company, as it became known, furnished material for many of the early construction projects in Denver, including the Denver Auditorium, which is now the Temple Buell Theater at the Denver Theatre Arts Complex.

As business grew, so did his family. He and his wife had two children, Edna and Lloyd. In 1920, Edna married a young salesman with the H.W. Moore Equipment Company named Frank P. "Bud" Spratlen, Jr. In 1923, Mr. Spratlen joined the company, it was then renamed Spratlen-Brannan, Inc. In 1931, Edna's brother Lloyd also joined the family firm.

The company was one of the first five companies in the United States to implement a truck-mounted mixer for mobile delivery of concrete. The Kiewit job required 10 cubic yards of concrete per day that was to be delivered from a plant off site. The company purchased three "Rex Chain Belt" truck mounted mixers; each mixer held 2 cubic yards of concrete. Success and future expansion were assured when it soon became apparent that the operation was capable of delivering 40 cubic yards of concrete per day.

Over the years, the business grew and the company was awarded the contract to supply concrete to the Peter Kiewit Construction Company for the Denver Sewage Plant at 64th and York Street. This was the newly organized Ready Mixed Concrete's first job. In 1936, after Mr. Brannan's death, the company split. Lloyd kept the sand and gravel operation, which is now called Brannan Sand and Gravel. Later, he added an asphalt division to the operation. Mr. Spratlen, on the other hand, started a new building materials company, Spratlen Materials, Inc., to support the already successful Ready Mixed Concrete Company. Mr. Spratlen's 11-year-old son, Frank Penn III entered into the business that summer working in the gravel pit, with a Fresno and a team of horses.

The years following saw many industry firsts and innovations pioneered by Ready Mixed Concrete of Denver.

• In 1939, the first centralized batch plant was located at 3200 Brighton Boulevard - it eventually grew to one of seven Metro plants.
• In 1948, the first "Challenge Light Weight" mixers were purchased by Ready Mixed - which allowed for larger payloads and also growing the fleet to almost 100 units.
• In 1955, Ready Mixed Concrete was the first concrete company to install two-way radios in their trucks to better serve its customers.
• In 1968, the company introduced the first aluminum framed concrete truck with the first Boost-a-Load mixer.
• In the early 1970's, Ready Mixed pioneered the industry's first computerized dispatch system, which allowed for better utilization of equipment without sacrificing service to the customer.
• In 1974, with the boom in the computer industry, came the decision to invest in one new computerized Rex central wet batch plant. This plant is still located at the intersection of Interstate 25 and Interstate 70. It was completely refurbished in 2001 and is now a state of the art batching facility.
• In 1981, a second wet batch plant was brought on-line in Castle Rock to serve the Denver Tech Center and the expanding southern section of the Metro area.
• In 1982, Best Block Company was formed to supply the masonry contracting industry. As with the rest of the company, our state of the art computerized plant located in Littleton ensures that our customers receive only the finest products available at competitive pricing.

F.P. "Budd" Spratlen III, who rejoined the firm after World War II, purchased the company in 1961 and was responsible for implementing most of the innovations above.

• In 1988, Ready Mixed Aggregates opened a new sand and gravel operation just south of Brighton. The site has a life expectancy of thirty years and allows the company to internally control the highest quality standards by producing its own raw materials.
• In 1994, a third batch plant was brought on line at the Brighton site to serve Denver International Airport and the northern section of the Metro area.
• In 1998, we expanded our aggregate reserves by approximately 10 years by adding property to the north and south.
• In 2001, Ready Mixed/Best Block acquired the assets of McKinney Concrete Products of Pueblo, Colorado from Jim and Owen McKinney, the sons of its founders. McKinney has been a leader in the masonry industry since the 1950's, supplying the highest quality products to southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Its state of the art production facility in Pueblo was expanded and updated in 1998. We know that the merger of our two family owned businesses will create the premier masonry supplier in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Chip, Skip, and David Spratlen, the great grandsons of the founder J.W. Brannan purchased the company from their father Budd Spratlen in 1999. They have been responsible for the great growth of the company during the 1990's. Today, a fifth generation is working in the business with the hope that the family tradition will continue well into the 21st century.

Over the years Ready Mixed, Best Block, and McKinney have been proud to have supplied concrete products to many of the major area contractors on such significant projects as the Denver Coliseum, Mile High Center, Court House Square, One United Bank Center, Vail Associates, I-25 and I-70 reconstruction, E-470, and many many more.

From its inception, Ready Mixed Concrete Company has been ever mindful of its civic responsibility and contributions to the community. A point of pride is that its founder served on the Denver School Board and that for three generations, one of our Presidents has been a Director of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. A Company, however, is only as good as its people. The many hundreds of people who have worked with the founding family and participated in building this great community, along with our loyal customers, are the real success and history of Ready Mixed Concrete Company.