The H.E. Whitlock, Inc. family includes Owner, Micky Bonham (center) and (from left to right) Shawna Bonham, Justin Bonham and Erin Bonham.

H.E. Whitlock, Inc. renovated the historic Bent County Courthouse first built in the late 1880s. This project was awarded the state of Colorado’s Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation.

In 1892, Pueblo, Colo., was one of the biggest and most prosperous cities in the state, thanks in large part to its position as an industrial and manufacturing center as well as a supply town for the farming and agricultural communities of the Arkansas Valley.

For Howard E. Whitlock, it was also perfectly situated to found what has become the oldest construction company in Colorado. After years of working for others, he established what is known today as H.E. Whitlock, Inc. Over time, he built his company’s reputation as a quality builder and was called on to construct some of the region’s most recognizable and longest-lasting structures, such as the Sacred Heart Orphanage (1903), listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Like the structures it has built, the now 125-year-old construction company has endured. While different leaders have come and gone from H.E. Whitlock, they have all continued to build on the heritage Whitlock first established all those years ago, ascribing to a business philosophy epitomized by the famous words of Ben Franklin: “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”

Through the Years

Whitlock continued to grow his business in the Pueblo area through the early 20th century. His grandson, Bud, took over leadership of the company in 1945 after serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps for three years during World War II.

Beyond building some of the city’s key commercial structures, Bud helped negotiate labor contracts for the Colorado Contractors’ Association and was a panel member of the American Arbitration Association. He was also a civic activist, serving on his local city council, on the Pueblo Economic Development Corp. committee and, for 18 years, on Pueblo’s Board of Water Works. In fact, the board named a water treatment plant after him in 1975 in recognition of his work on the board, specifically his efforts to build up the city’s water reserves. He was also the first male president of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at Thatcher Elementary School and the first male chairman of the Mothers March campaign, the first and longest-running March of Dimes fundraising event.

Just as importantly, he hired employees who shared his passion for the business and the community. When Bud began thinking of retirement in the early 1980s, he looked to two of his most seasoned and skilled employees, Ralph (Micky) Bonham and Jack Merrill.

New Leadership−Same Code

Merrill joined Whitlock in 1960 at the age of 25 as a field superintendent and then general superintendent for the company, overseeing all field work. Bonham started working for Whitlock in 1966 under Merrill’s supervision as a part-time field worker while attending college. Once he graduated with a degree in biology, Bonham took a risk and opted to go to work full time with H.E. Whitlock instead of working in the field he’d studied.

Bonham recalls, “My grandfather, Ralph Bonham, was a contractor in Fort Collins. I admired him and his work ethic, and really liked the challenge of construction. I believed H.E. Whitlock was the kind of company my grandfather would have admired.”

Bonham worked as a carpenter for three years and then shifted to project supervision. Soon after, Bud asked Bonham if he wanted to learn the business side of construction, such as contracts, estimating and project management. Bonham and Merrill bought H.E. Whitlock from Bud in 1982, with Bud’s complete support. At the time, the company was doing about $2 million in business a year, primarily in the Pueblo area.

Continuing the Legacy

Until 1998, Bonham, Merrill and their team of craftworkers, which grew to include Bonham’s two sons, Erin and Justin, built grocery stores, schools, airport buildings, industrial facilities and much more. When Merrill retired in 1998, Bonham became the sole owner of the business.

Over the last 20 years, the company has expanded into northern Colorado and Kansas. Bonham has also begun to shift leadership of the company to his sons. Justin is now President of H.E. Whitlock and his wife, Shawna, handles accounting and office management. Erin, a corporate officer at H.E. Whitlock, also does cost estimating and project management for the company. The H.E. Whitlock leadership takes pride in the fact that most of the company’s employees have been working for H.E. Whitlock for decades. In fact, one Equipment Operator (Fred Garcia) started over 40 years ago and worked alongside Bonham when they were both laborers for the company.

Today, under Bonham’s guidance, H.E. Whitlock continues to build on its roots, specializing in commercial and industrial builds, with much of the work self-performed by expert tradesmen. They’ve built Pueblo’s first Walmart (and 18 more since then), the Buell Children’s Museum and more than 200 educational facilities in the area. In coordination with H.W. Houston Construction and Bassett Construction Co., H.E Whitlock also constructed the old McDonnell Douglas rocket-assembly plant and a Trane facility, both in Pueblo. H.E. Whitlock has built 12 out of 13 spec buildings for the Pueblo Memorial Airport industrial park, the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. world headquarters campus on the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo and the new Legacy Bank in Pueblo.

Just recently, the company constructed Pewag’s first U.S.-based manufacturing facilities for snow, industrial and tire protection chains and the Rocla Concrete Tie manufacturing facility, a Rocla Concrete Tie manufacturing facility.” The team is currently constructing a large industrial plant for CR Minerals, a producer of pumice products.

Bonham says, “At our heart, we’re builders charged to carry on the quality and ethics practices established by our founders. I keep the framed Franklin quote on my desk, just like Bud did before me, as did his father and grandfather. We like to think that philosophy is embedded in every part of every project, our culture and our character.”