Transcript
Transcript
Expansion from window washing to full janitorial services demands our first rebrand. Morris updates the name of his growing business to American Building Maintenance Company.
By the end of their first decade in business, American Building Maintenance Company expands from the streets of San Francisco to open offices in Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle.
Winning a contract to clean Stanford University makes us the first janitorial contractor in America to clean a major college campus. Making a mark for ABM’s employee culture, a future president of the company (Morris’ son Ted) is sent there on his first professional assignment, as a janitor.
When ABM opens our first New York branch office in 1933, we’ve grown to 1,500 employees and specialized services for banks, theatres, offices, department stores, and colleges. Our technical services have their first birthday, founded in Los Angeles as the APEX Electrical and Mechanical Company, soon to be renamed the Pacific Electrical and Mechanical Company (PEMCO).
The World’s Fair on San Francisco’s Treasure Island asks ABM to be responsible for 500,000 square feet of space, including entrance halls, pavilions, exhibit palaces, 400 restrooms, and more. To get the gates open on time, trucks have to haul 280 tons of debris off the newly created island. Our executives request 400 union workers within 24 hours. On opening morning, the site is ready.
The famous “Giant Janitor” logo steps up to represent the World’s Largest Janitorial Contractors. From 1953 and on into the ’60s, a genuine giant, Mr. Hite, made special appearances as our Giant Janitor at industry tradeshows.
When Disneyland opens the Magic Kingdom, ABM is on the job.
Long before company emails and apps, ABM shares employee anniversaries, recognizes new accounts, and recaps business news of the day in our newsletter The Maintainer.
At our 50-year mark, ABM has grown to employ more than 6,000 people, with offices in 45 cities across North America.
Our stock lists on the American Stock Exchange.
ABM team members secure $1 million of new annual service contracts in just one month for the first time.
Recalling the moment years later, the son of ABM’s founder says: “On our first day on the New York Stock Exchange I bought the very first share of stock. I still have it.”
Of the 4,000 corporations listed over-the-counter and on the major stock exchanges, only 234 have increased annual dividends in the last 10 years. ABM is one, ranking 65th.
Bill Steele becomes President and Chief Executive Officer of ABM in 1991, having started as a management trainee in 1958.
Marking increased revenue for the 82nd consecutive year, ABM and our subsidiaries now serve clients in 35 of the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.
ABM launches www.abm.com.
The terrible toll of the attack on the World Trade Center includes 17 ABM employees. Survivor Jan Demczur, an ABM window washer, uses his squeegee to open a trapped elevator, saving not only himself, but the lives of everyone stuck inside. To honor Demczur’s bravery in leading those trapped with him safely out of the building, his squeegee and ABM uniform were later inducted into the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. At the time of the attack, the WTC is ABM’s single largest client, with approximately 800 janitorial, engineering, and lighting employees caring for the site.
ABM Facility Solutions returns to the site of its former largest client, the World Trade Center, taking on the responsibility for integrated facility services at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Caring for these unique spaces remains a special honor for us, as 17 of the names memorialized there belong to ABM employees.