Spokane (WA) Ready Mix Business Stood Test of Time

NRMCA Producer member Central Pre-Mix of Spokane, WA, was recently the subject of a feature story in a local newspaper. The company, now a part of Oldcastle Materials, was formed in the 1920s when William Murphy had an idea for a business while running a steam shovel on Snoqualmie Pass in the 1920s. He and partner M.J. Burke perched a mixer on the side of a rocky outcrop in Spokane so gravity would feed the machinery. Rail cars rolled above the mixer and dumped gravel, cement and sand. The first year, there were two tub trucks and three men. Only 915 yards of concrete were sold in 1933. But business picked up in 1935, and the company bought its first two mixer trucks. The rest, as they say, is history.