Austin Industrial

The Austin name first became known in the Texas bridge building field when George Austin came to Dallas in 1889 as an agent for the George E. King Bridge Co. of Des Moines, Iowa. His brother, Frank, joined him in 1894, and they formed Austin Brothers Bridge Company. In 1900, when the brothers’ business increased, they hired Charles Moore to help in the office as a stenographer. He was later made traveling agent, contracting agent and chief engineer of the company.

In 1918, Moore purchased the contracting part of the company when the Austin brothers wanted to focus primarily on bridge fabrication. He dropped “Brothers” from the name in 1924. The company became known as Austin Bridge Company and Associated Companies until 1974 when the parent company, Austin Industries, was formed. Since then, Austin Industries has continued to enter diverse markets.

It entered the commercial construction field in 1975 when Austin Commercial was established. In 1983, Austin Industrial was formed to meet the growing maintenance and construction needs of the petrochemical, power and manufacturing industries. Austin Bridge merged with two other operating companies, Austin Paving and Austin Road, in the late 1980s to form Austin Bridge & Road.

In 1986, William T. Solomon, Charles Moore’s grandson, established the Austin Industries Employee Stock Ownership Plan, transferring 60 percent ownership of the company to its employees at no cost. He also set up a plan for the company to become 100 percent owned by its employees by 2000. That plan was completed on schedule.