Vulcan Materials

Vulcan Materials Company is the United States' largest producer of construction aggregates, primarily crushed stone, sand and gravel, and a major producer of other construction materials including asphalt and ready-mixed concrete. 

The Central Division encompasses over 85 aggregate, sand & gravel and recycled concrete production and sales facilities in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana and Virginia. Six of the Division's limestone production sites are underground operations.

Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Vulcan operates aggregate facilities, serving markets in 18 states, the District of Columbia, Mexico and the Bahamas, and employing 7,211 dedicated men and women.

1909: Birmingham Slag Co. was founded in Birmingham by Adolph Kern. 

1912: Kern left Vulcan Detinning to join Republic Chemical, taking the company's trade secrets with him and setting off a series of lawsuits.

1916: The company was purchased by Charles Lincoln Ireland, a banker from Ohio, who sent his sons Glenn, Eugene and Barney to Birmingham to manage the business.

1918: The Irelands opened a new slag processing plant in Ensley.

1920: Vulcan Detinning and Republic Chemical merged after Kern was no longer associated with either company.

1922: Nevertheless, Birmingham Slag was ready when state legislators passed the 1922 Alabama Bond Issue for Good Roads, setting off a boom in road construction.

1923: Birmingham Slag formed the Montgomery Gravel Company and began providing sand and gravel for a dam being built in Cherokee Bluffs, Alabama.

1929: Vulcan Materials Company acquires Florida Rock Industries, Inc., which was originally founded this year by Thompson S. Baker.

1939: Birmingham Slag signed a contract with the newly formed Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to dredge part of the Tennessee River so a dam and power plant could be built at Watts Bar, thus marking yet another business expansion for the company.

1951: In addition, Charles W. Ireland, the grandson of the Ohio banker, had become president of Birmingham Slag and was looking for ways to lessen the inheritance taxes family members faced.

1956: Birmingham-based Vulcan Materials Co. traded on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time at a price of $12.69 per share. After purchasing the Vulcan Detinning Co. in New Jersey.

1957: Vulcan Materials Company became a publicly traded company with trading beginning on January 2. Vulcan Chemicals Division was formed following the acquisition of Union Chemicals and Materials Corp.

1958: Bernard A. Monaghan joined Vulcan in 1958 as executive vice-president and, soon after, became president and chief executive officer.

1967: Vulcan purchased Aluminum and Magnesium, Inc., an Ohio-based aluminium recycler.

1973: Vulcan first looked to Mexico as a potential quarry site to serve the Gulf Coast area of the United States.

1975: Vulcan also spent ten years in oil and natural gas exploration, forming a joint venture with Oklahoma-based Southport Exploration, Inc.

1981: The year sales at the company total $783 million and Vulcan is on the Fortune 500. The company began a concentrated effort to locate quarry sites in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

1985: Vulcan sells Southport Exploration and exits the natural gas and oil business.

1988: Vulcan sold its metals division, and detinning and aluminium recycling had formed the nucleus of the metals processing business.

1990: Three years later, Vulcan surpassed the White's Mines acquisition by paying more than $110 million for the Reed Crushed Stone Company, Inc. and two related companies. The Vulcan quarry in Warrenton, Virginia, was the first site in the nation to be certified by the Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Council; Vulcan also received the Virginia Conservationist of the Year Award for its efforts at the quarry. As well, the first stone from the Mexican quarry begins shipping.

1991: The W.H. Blount, a refitted Panamax-class vessel named for a former chief executive officer and then chairman emeritus of Vulcan Materials, was put into operation in March to carry limestone from the Mexican quarry.

1993: Entering the year the company was encouraged by a recovering economy and by the renewed focus on upgrading and expanding the nation's highways.

1994: A jump in both the construction of residential homes and federal highways pushed the division's earnings up 39 percent to $162 million, offsetting the chemical unit's loss of $7.3 million and bringing Vulcan's overall earnings to $98 million on net sales just shy of $1.3 billion for this year. As well, Chemicals division splits into two separate units: Chloralkali Business and Performance Systems Business.

1997: Sklenar was named chairman emeritus this year when James assumed the title of chairman.

1998: Additionally, Vulcan's construction division began to reap the benefits of the federal government's TEA-21, a new highway rebuilding and construction bill passed in 1998, which provided $157 billion over the next six years for the refurbishment and new construction of national highways.

1999: United States Concrete was formed in 1999, with its headquarters in Euless, TX. The deal is valued at $1.3 billion.

2000: By this year, Vulcan had expanded its construction aggregates empire to have facilities in 21 states, the District of Columbia, and Mexico, with 236 operational quarries.

2002: Twenty-four Vulcan quarries in the United States and its Crescent quarry in Mexico won top honours from the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association's About Face Awards early in the year. Twenty-five of Vulcan's quarries in the United States and Mexico win prestigious environmental awards.

2005: On June 7, 2005, Vulcan completed the sale of its chemicals business, known as Vulcan Chemicals, to Occidental Chemical Corporation. 2005 - Vulcan divests its Vulcan Chemicals division to Occidental Chemical Corp. In 2005, Vulcan acquired 11 aggregates operations and five asphalt plants in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee.

2007: On February 19, 2007, Vulcan announced that it would buy stone and cement producer Florida Rock Industries for $4.7 billion. April 2007 - Shares of Vulcan trade at more than $122 per share following massive building boom.

2011: 2011 - Vulcan shares downgraded by several investment analysts

2014: In January 2014, Vulcan Materials announced they would be selling their Florida Rock Industry (cement and ready-mixed concrete) plants and equipment to Cementos Argos, of Colombia.

2022: ALEX, the Alabama Experience exhibit, debuts at The World Games 2022

“To provide quality products and services which consistently meet our customers' expectations to be responsible stewards with respect to the safety and environmental impact of our operations and products and to earn superior returns for our shareholders.”

“We will strive to be the low-cost producer in our industry and to be the standard-setter with regard to quality, service and technical support.”