History

A partnership in 1923 among Edward F. Regenhardt and the Harrison brothers, Bob, Charles, and Arthur, led to the establishment of a series of construction and materials companies that would eventually become the Delta Companies Inc.

This first partnership performed work throughout Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky, building roads and performing other concrete construction projects.

Early in Edward Regenhardt’s career, prior to this partnership, he was a building contractor in the Cape Girardeau, Missouri area. His company constructed streets in Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff along with many buildings throughout the area, including Academic Hall on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.

During this time, Edward became friends with President William Howard Taft, and was appointed U.S. Marshall for the Eastern District of Missouri in 1910. After his term ended, Regenhardt returned to Cape Girardeau and incorporated the Regenhardt Construction Company.

In the 1930s, Regenhardt’s three sons, Edward Jr., Ted, and William Sr., entered the partnership. Later, Ted and Edward Jr. sold their parts of the business to their brother, leaving William Sr. as a partner with the Harrison brothers.

Bob Harrison eventually bought out his brothers and the partnership then consisted of Harrison and Regenhardt Sr. In the late 1940s, these two enterprising men expanded the company into coal mines, highway construction, and levee building. In 1948, they started a quarry, Southern Illinois Stone Company in Buncombe, Illinois.

Major changes for the company occurred in 1952. William Regenhardt Sr.’s ownership passed to his three sons, William Jr., Thomas and Joe. Bob Harrison passed his ownership to his nephew, Donald L. Harrison (also known as D.L.). The four formed a partnership that would establish Delta Companies as one of the largest concrete paving companies in the Midwest.

Delta Companies performed work on Interstate and State highways in Missouri and Illinois. In the 1950s, William Regenhardt Jr. and a company mechanic invented the Concrete Form Paving machine for concrete paving on the State highways. This machine was first used on Illinois Route 37 in Whittington, Illinois.

The Regenhardt brothers sold their share of the Regenhardt Construction Company to the R.B. Potashnick Company and D.L. Harrison in 1959, thus forming the D.L. Harrison Company. However, the brothers maintained their fifty-percent ownership in the Southern Illinois Stone Company quarry.

The D.L. Harrison Company continued to expand into the concrete paving business. In August 1959, the D. L. Harrison Company became only the ninth highway-paving contractor in the nation to pave over one linear mile in one day while performing work on I-57 in Scott County, Missouri.

As the Interstate program wound down in the area, the company began converting from a predominately concrete construction company into the vertically-integrated company it is today. Don Harrison and the Regenhardt brothers purchased land in southern Cape Girardeau and formed Southeast Missouri Stone Company, which began providing aggregates locally.

In 1962, Don Harrison started a separate company based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri called Delta Asphalt Inc., with the establishment of the Cape Girardeau Asphalt Plant. This company was joined in 1964 by Girardeau Contractors, Inc., an asphalt paving company operating in Missouri. Around the same time, the Regenhardt brothers began Southern Illinois Asphalt Company in Illinois.

The Illinois company converted from concrete paving to asphalt road construction in the mid-1960s following major work on interstates 55 and 57 in Illinois and Missouri. Several asphalt plants were also constructed.

Due to economic changes which slowed the demand for concrete construction, in 1966, the D.L. Harrison Company began construction operations in Central America, where the company would build roadway projects in the republics of Guatemala and El Salvador, including two sections of the Pan American Highway, under the management of Joe Regenhardt.

In the 1970s, the Harrison/Regenhardt group started Southern Illinois Concrete Products to produce concrete products such as round and elliptical pipe and box culverts. This was sold in 2000.

In 1972, Delta expanded into Arkansas with asphalt plants and construction.

The Delta Companies owned and operated a liquid asphalt terminal on the Mississippi River in New Madrid, Missouri from 1976 to 1983.

In 1978, Apex Paving Company was formed in Missouri as a non-union construction company and an alternative to Girardeau Contractors, which was union, as were all other Missouri and Illinois operations through the early 2000s.

As the work in Central America began to have political problems that affected the company’s operations there, the D.L. Harrison Company sold its interests to a local construction company in 1980. Joe Regenhardt returned to manage the operations in southern Illinois.

The early 1980s saw a severe slowdown of the economy, so Delta expanded into the southern Louisiana market, which was booming due to the higher prices of oil, making it economical to drill oil in that state. Again, it was asphalt plants and road construction work. In 1982, Delta Asphalt performed work in the famed French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana. The streets required resurfacing before the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, also known as the World’s Fair, and Delta completed most of this work. These Louisiana businesses were sold in 1995.

In 1987, Delta Concrete, Inc. was formed in Cape Girardeau for the production and sale of ready mix concrete and expanded to cover all of Southeast Missouri.

The Delta group of companies was sold in December 1992, to Colas Inc., based in Morristown, New Jersey, by Don Harrison and the Regenhardts. The owners were reaching an age where retirement beckoned, and they were not planning to pass the companies on to the next generation.

However, their involvement with the company did not end immediately. Don Harrison became President of the Delta Asphalt group of companies (all operations in Missouri and Arkansas except the limestone quarry in Cape Girardeau, Missouri), while the Regenhardt brothers were presidents of the various Illinois companies under the parent company of Southern Illinois Stone Company.

Since that time, Delta has experienced periods of explosive growth, followed by periods of innovation and stabilization.

The Company continued to expand its involvement in all phases of highway construction, specializing in hot mix asphalt and aggregates. This began with the 1997 purchase of Baughn Construction in Arkansas, which added plants in Tuckerman and Black Rock, and continued with the 1999 purchase of Clinton Materials Companies. This acquisition added six ready mix plants in Southeast Missouri, a limestone quarry in Williamsville, Missouri, and a sand and gravel operation in Dexter, Missouri.

In 2009, Delta returned to the liquid asphalt business, leasing terminals in New Madrid, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee. These operations primarily supply the needs of the Delta group. The operation is known today as Heartland Asphalt Materials Inc.

Additional small acquisitions from 2000 to 2007 added more ready mix plants in Missouri, asphalt plants and a sandstone quarry in Arkansas, two additional limestone quarries in Missouri, and a small bridge construction operation in Illinois.

Delta Asphalt of Arkansas purchased two additional asphalt plants in Searcy and Heber Springs, Arkansas, along with a construction operation in 2002 from Vulcan Materials.

In 2004, the John Treece Construction quarry in Clinton, Arkansas was added to Delta Asphalt of Arkansas, producing high-quality sandstone products for use in the regional market, including highway and infrastructure construction projects and well pads for the natural gas industry.

A major expansion into Texas came about in 2011, with operations starting in 2012. The company, Heartland Asphalt Materials (southern region) provided base stock asphalts, polymer-modified asphalts, emulsions, and other asphalt-based products out of two leased terminals (one near Dallas and the second in Lubbock) to local contractors and governmental agencies. Heartland Asphalt exited the Texas market at the end of 2016.

Also in 2011, the Delta Companies Inc. acquired Ballou Pavement Solutions, Inc., from sister company Barrett Paving Materials Company and began to perform pavement preservation projects from North Dakota to Texas. These operations ceased in 2014.

In an effort to consolidate its position in the Bootheel of Missouri, the Delta Companies executed two solid business moves in the fall of 2017. Those decisions were to purchase the Heartland Materials Quarry in Jackson, Missouri, and to divest of all the assets of Delta Concrete, Inc. The acquisition of the quarry allows Delta to provide aggregates to a larger footprint in southeast Missouri.

Delta Asphalt, Inc. and Apex Paving Co., subsidiaries of the Delta Companies Inc., acquired all of the assets of ASA Asphalt, Inc. in the state of Missouri in March 2018. This acquisition enables Delta to further serve the private, commercial, and industrial sector throughout southeast Missouri.

ASA Asphalt, Inc. started out as a small company that has grown steadily throughout the years.  Two brothers, F.E. (Gene) and Donald Rhodes, purchased the L.O. Reutzel Company in 1979.  They renamed the company, ASA Asphalt, Inc., to honor their father Asa Rhodes.  The company, located in Advance, Missouri, does paving and seal coating on city streets, parking lots, driveways, and airports. 

The Delta Companies Inc. was formed as the holding company for Delta operations in 1993. Donald Harrison served as chairman of the board from 1993 to 1995 and retired at that time. William and Tom Regenhardt retired at the time of the sale to Colas. Joe Regenhardt became President of Delta Companies in January 1993, added the title of Chairman of the Board in January 1996, and retired as President in December 1999 and as Chairman in December 2000. Ric Neubert became President in January 2000. George Ausseil was Chairman of the Board in 2001, and James Weeks became Chairman of the Board in January 2002.

In 2016, Zach Green became President and Robert Ponton became Chairman of the Board of the Delta Companies Inc. Both men continue in those roles today.

Today, Delta works in Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois with operations in road construction, asphalt plants, quarries, and liquid asphalt production and sales. The number of employees ranges from 250 to 400 over the calendar year, with peak employment from April to October due to the seasonal nature of construction operations.

Delta Companies Inc. is one of the few firms in today’s construction industry with the level of experience, expertise, and longevity to carry forward successfully throughout the 21st Century. By combining strong project management with the latest technological advances and cutting-edge construction methods, Delta Companies Inc. has established a reputation for safely completing projects to specification while meeting time and budget constraints.