Peckham Centennial Celebration

Four Generations Of Family Values & Accomplishments

By GEORGE DRAPEAU III – May 2024

Great ideas in business are often hatched at kitchen tables. A century ago, on March 17, 1924, William H. Peckham, Jr., along with his father-in-law and a friend gathered in his small apartment in White Plains, NY, to launch a new company in the paving business. That was the day Peckham Road Corp. was born.

Over the next 100 years, the company would grow as the nation grew, fueled by ambition for success and loyalty to an organization that cared for and provided for its employees. Looking back over the past century, what began with a small amount of seed capital of $12,500 to launch Peckham Road Corp. on St. Patrick’s Day would turn out to be the historic down payment for thousands of descendants of other employees and their family members who worked for four generations of Peckham family members.

Today Peckham Industries employs more than 1,000 people who are tasked with running the many operations in New York State, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

“The Peckham family should be immensely proud of achieving 100 years in business—a milestone very few family businesses survive to celebrate,” said John Cooney, Jr., executive director of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley, Inc. “I give a large amount of credit to John Peckham, chairman of Peckham Industries, for this rarified achievement. Throughout his remarkable career, John has been an example of hard work, customer focus and, most of all, integrity in all his dealings.”

Mr. Peckham’s drive to maintain Peckham Industries as a family business goes back at least 30 years, Mr. Cooney added. “Those who know John know him to be selfless, focused and determined—outstanding qualities that have brought the Peckham family to this great milepost and celebration.”

He added, “What I believe to be most remarkable about John is that while he has been leading the organization through this current chapter of the company’s history, he has been laying the foundation for the next 100 years. John studied and sought guidance on how best to continue the Peckham family legacy beyond his generation and ownership. John is a truly remarkable family-business leader who absolutely deserves to be in the Family Business Hall of Fame.”

The construction industry is invited to join in the company’s ongoing milestone celebration, on June 8, 2024, in Westfield, MA, and on June 15, 2024, in Shaftsbury, VT.

 

In the 1970s and 1980s, Peckham acquired several plants, including a blacktop manufacturing facility near Danbury, CT, a blacktop and crushing plant in Chestertown, NY, a plant in Kingston, NY, and a plant in Bedford, NY, where a new plant was erected. In 2018, Peckham Industries, Inc. acquired Palmer Paving Corp., extending its services into Massachusetts. This became the largest acquisition in company history.
In 1924, with a starting capital of $12,500 and working out of William H. Peckham’s small apartment in White Plains, NY, Bill and two friends entered the road paving business. Peckham Road Corp. was born.
In 1946, another blacktop plant was erected in Port Chester, NY. Within two years, the plant went from producing only a cold mix of emulsion and aggregates to also producing hot mix asphalt. At this time, the asphalt companies were headquartered at Water Street in White Plains, while Peckham Road and other affiliates were located at Mamaroneck Avenue.
In 1958, Jack Peckham was tasked with negotiating the purchase of the Defiance Asphalt Corporation and its subsidiaries, New York Materials and Batten Kill Stone Corp. For Peckham, this was a major addition and opened an entirely new territory. In April of 1959, Defiance Asphalt Corp. bought the available 50% of Tri-County Stone Co., Glens Falls Blacktop Corp., and Kingsbury Asphalt Corp.

For more information and details, visit the Peckham Centennial Celebration website at www.peckham.com/peckhams-100th-anniversary.

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