1892 to Today: An Amazing History, A Heritage with Momentum

If experience and longevity in business are important to you when choosing a construction company, you'll want to partner with J. P. Cullen & Sons, Inc. You'll be associated with one of the oldest commercial contractors in the United States, founded in 1892 by John Patrick Cullen. You'll experience a pride in workmanship that harkens back to the 19th Century, and has never changed. You'll learn how we've creatively benefited clients for well over a century, and how that knowledge has become the wisdom that drives our enterprise today.

Founder John Patrick Cullen was an Irish descendant who gave birth to our firm's standard of pride in workmanship. He learned the building trade apprenticing with his carpenter father, then expanded from houses to larger projects. J. P.'s work ethic was renowned; he once rode a bicycle 50 miles - from Janesville to Mt. Horeb - to inspect a Cullen job under construction.

Son Mark A. Cullen joined J. P. in 1919 and together they guided the company through a period of aggressive growth. By 1920 J. P. Cullen & Son was undertaking projects with contracts exceeding $1 million in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. A significant early industrial client was the Samson Tractor Company. Under construction in 1918, it later became the huge General Motors Complex in Janesville.

The Cullens worked hard to survive the Great Depression. Helping to ward off its ravages was a contract for a 13-story Federal Office Building in Omaha, Neb., completed in 1933. During World War II, the firm won military contracts: Camp Grant, IL; Badger Ordinance Works, Baraboo, WI; and Camp McCoy, WI. To illustrate Cullen's capacity for ramping up, after war was declared in 1941, Cullen completed 80 housing units in 55 days at Camp Grant (near Rockford, IL)!

The postwar construction boom enlarged Cullen's area of influence under Mark's leadership. In the early '60s his son, a third-generation J. Paul Cullen, became president. The firm continued to grow and prosper. Schools, hospitals, and industrial plants laid the cornerstone for Cullen's present market. J. Paul kept the company on sound footing despite recessions and a fluctuating economy, and Cullen continued to expand its client base and project portfolio.

In 1981 J. P.'s eldest son, Mark, assumed the presidency. Sharing in day-to-day operating decisions were his brothers: David as Vice President and Richard as Vice President of Field Operations.

Currently, Mark A. Cullen is Board Chair, David is President and CEO, and Richard serves as Vice President of Field Operations.