Written in 1981 for their 50th Anniversity
SHAW ELECTRIC COMPANY
A Brief History
Our Company was started in 1931 as a partnership between R. Douglas Shaw and Rudy Kauth under the name of Shaw & Kauth.
During the first year of operation gross sales were approximately $11,000.00. This supported both partners plus at least one electrician, Clare Fisher, who was employed by Shaw & Kauth from the day they opened their doors.
The business initially operated out of R. D. Shaw’s home on Marlowe near West Chicago and Greenfield in Detroit. It later moved to a location on Burnette and West Chicagp in the back of the Skyway Bar. While they were at this location Wes Langusch came to work for them in February, 1946 as an Apprentice. His wage was $.70 / hour. In December of the same year Dave Burnhart hired on as a Journeyman earning $2.00 / hour.
During the following year both John Friess (Jan. 20, 1947) and Bruce Hellmer (Dec. 17, 1947) came to work for Shaw & Kauth. John Friess worked in the field for four months before going to work in the office as an estimator. Bruce’s first jobs were as an apprentice at Homer Chevrolet and Jervis B. Webb.
Shaw & Kauth at this time had approximately 29 men in the field. They made another move to a storefront on Puritan near Wyoming. Shortly thereafter Bill Kurtz came to work in 1949.
In 1950 the name was changed to Shaw Electric Co.
1954 was a notable year for two reasons. Our founder R. Douglas Shaw, died suddenly of a heart attach. Only a couple of weeks later the Company moved into the new building at our current location which Mr. Shaw had just finished constructing. A few months later in March, 1955 Shaw Electric Co. incorporated.
Over the years there have been many projects which are still familiar to us today. In the early years there were, of course, many private residences wired by Shaw & Kauth. They also had an inside track with many of the Protestant and Catholic Churches in the area, most notably the Shrine of the Little Flower at Twelve Mile and Woodward. Father Coughlin was the priest at the Shrine. The good Irish Catholic Father gave our Irish Protestant Founder a great deal of wowrk through the 1930’s and 40’s. He is given a lot of the credit for Shaw & Kauth making it through those early lean years.
During the early 1940’s Shaw & Kauth did many jobs at the homes of Henry Ford II, Benson Ford, and Semon Knudsen. (How did we lose that account?)
Following are sone other projects and when Shaw Electric Co. (or Shaw & Kauth) worked there:
1937 Detroit City Airport
1938 S.S. Kresge on Woodward at State
1939 First job for R. E. Dailey ($40.00)
1942 Cass Tech High School
1945 Shrine Gas Station for Shrine of the Little Flower
John Green Store for John E. Green Plumbing & Heating
1946 James Vernor Co. at 239 Woodward
Ira Wilson Dairy on Grand River
Children’s hospital at 415 Brainard
1947 Cass Theatre
MacKenzie High School
Aurther Murray Studios on Washington Blvd.
Henry Ford Hospital
1948 Jared W. Finney Grade School at 5281 Guilford
1949 James Couzens Residence
Here is a lost of employees who have 5 or more years with the Company:
35 Years 30 Years 25 Years
David Barnhart Wes Langusch Walter Martin
Bruce Hellmer John Friess
Bill Kurtz
20
Years 15 Years 10 Years
Marty Brandenburg Bob Travis Tony Goddeeris
Larry Miller Bud Hope Steve Grabowski
Dick Nesbitt George Friess Jim Henry
Joe Miller Ed Piotrowski Earl Schick
Lou Ziraldo Rick Stevens
Edythe Davis Larry Weir
Tom Pike
5 Years
Dave Barnhart Jr. Mike Goddeeris
Corby House Dennis Krause
Bill Mida Chuck Shilling
Clarence Skibinski David Kurtz
Mike Kwiatkowski Tim Shaw
Tom Muirhead Dick Barker