Francis A. Wilhelm, much like his father, started his construction career laying brick foundations on the southeast side of Indianapolis as a means of providing for his growing family. In 1923, Francis built a concrete porch for his neighbor, starting Wilhelm Construction as a Masonry Contractor.
In 1923, Francis built a concrete porch for his neighbor, starting Wilhelm Construction as a Masonry Contractor. Assisted by his business partner Al Baldwin, Fran's earlier projects focused on building and renovating churches around the Indianapolis area.
Wilhelm landed a construction deal with International Harvester Company, building a foundry and an engine plant on 75 acres. This was a big boost for the fledgling Wilhelm Construction Company, allowing them to develop the credentials to go on to build similar large projects as a General Contractor.
The 1940's brought huge growth to both the construction industry and Wilhelm's manpower capabilities. The company hit the 100-employee mark and also expanded our headquarters with the construction of our yard garages.
Wilhelm was increasingly becoming a central Indiana household name during the 1940s, as we became known for building quality commercial, institutional, and industrial projects. Wilhelm also entered the Higher Education space with the construction of Clare Hall at Marian College.
The 1950's proved to be a decade of exponential growth for F.A. Wilhelm Construction. Not only did our company grow to over 500 employees, but we also reached $100 million in revenue thanks to working with clients such as Purdue University, Indianapolis Power & Light, and RCA.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction traveled to Salinas, KS for our first out of state job in 1951. Scope of work included carting raw limestone all the way from Bloomington, IN to Sacred Heart Cathedral and setting up a fabrication shop to cut the stone into blocks.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction completed work on several local Indianapolis High Schools during the 1960s. Schools included: Anderson High School, Arlington High School, Ben Davis High School, Bloomington High School, Cardinal Ritter High School, and Culver Academy.
In 1964, F.A. Wilhelm Construction was involved in completing the Indiana War Memorial steps in downtown Indianapolis. Construction began on the Memorial building in 1926 and has underwent several renovations since then.
From 1967 to 1972, F.A. Wilhelm Construction served as the General Contractor for Indiana University's Assembly Hall (now Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall), which features 4,650 pre-cast concrete slabs and seats 17,000 Hoosier fans.
The 1970's brought leadership changes to Wilhelm, as James "Tippy" Wilhelm (son of Francis Wilhelm) took over duties as company president in 1974. Tippy was very forward-thinking in his new role, and even had his entire estimating department create new estimate charts to adjust for technological advances of the time.
