Wille Brothers Company Lumber - Building Materials / Ready Mix

Wille Brothers History

Wille Brothers Company history begins in Blue Island, Illinois in 1928. In that year, George and Herman Wille bought two trucks to haul stone used in building Chicago's suburban and city roads. Each of the brothers purchased one truck, and Wille Brothers was born. Due to the seasonality of hauling stone, the Wille Brothers decided that they needed to expand their enterprise to include cold weather work, so they bought some property in 1934 in Blue Island and opened a coal supply yard. The yard was expanded in 1937 to include lumber, and an old horse stable was converted into a shed for storing lumber products. Although many lumber products were stocked, the primary product for Wille Brothers was wood flooring for residential construction. The shift of product focus from coal to lumber was completed in 1948 when the company ended its' coal supply business.

In 1957, a converted dump truck was fitted with a concrete mixing drum, and Wille Brothers Concrete Division was introduced to customers. Harold Wille relocated to the new plant in Oak Forest to head up that operation, leaving his father, George, and his two brothers, Roy and Rich E to work at the Blue Island location. Roy had begun working in the family business in 1946, while Rich E and Harold had begun two years later in 1948.

The 1980's saw great changes for Wille Brothers Company. The third generation of the Wille family entered into the company operations when Roys' second son Rich L began in 1983 while his oldest son Curt began at Wille Brothers in 1985. Roys' daughter Janet began in 1988 while Rich E Willes' Children, Kris and Beth, began in 1993 and 1989 respectively.  The Blue Island yard, where it all began, was closed in 1994 while a new location was being planned for a second concrete plant. These plans were realized in 1997 when the Wille Brothers Manhattan Concrete plant was opened.

Wille Brothers Company currently operates in two divisions to serve customers.  The Lumber division , which is currently under the direction of Curt and Rich L. Wille, with experienced advice from father Roy. The two concrete facilities, located in Oak Forest and Monee, are under the direction of Kevin Jarchow, who began with the company in 1988 and with the family in 1995 when he married Rich E.'s daughter, Beth. The company is currently under the direction of both family and non-family directors seeing to the continued growth of Wille Brothers Company into the next century.

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