Fruin-Colnon Contracting Company
Biography
Fru-Con Construction Corporation was founded in St. Louis in 1900 by Jeremiah Fruin and his son-in-law, Redmond Stephen Colnon. The company was originally known as Fruin-Colnon Contractors.
Jeremiah Fruin was born in County Tipperary, Ireland in 1831, to John and Catherine (Baker) Fruin. The Fruins came to Brooklyn, New York, in 1833, when Jeremiah was just two years of age. In 1857, he married Catharine Carroll (1835-1900) of Brooklyn. The couple had two children, Katherine (1860-1934) and John (1868-1951).
Jeremiah’s father, John, was in the construction business and Jeremiah joined him after finishing his formal education at the age of sixteen. Over the years with his father, Jeremiah gained a reputation for construction competence. He left New York and came to St. Louis in 1861, serving in the Quartermaster Department of the Union Army during the Civil War. Jeremiah remained in St. Louis at war’s end and in 1872, he joined with W. H. Swift in construction. In 1885, Fruin and Swift joined P. Bambrick to form the Fruin-Bambrick Construction Company. Projects included sewers, street paving and grading, street railways, railroads, and water works. Fruin-Bambrick had projects from the Indian Territory to the east coast. In 1900, Fruin joined with Redmond S. Colnon to form Fruin-Colnon Contractors.
Redmond S. Colnon was born on 29 June 1862 to John W. and Harriet (Perkins) Colnon. He graduated from Princeton in 1887 with a degree in civil engineering and came to St. Louis in 1889. From 1892 to 1895, he worked with Fruin-Bambrick Construction Company. Previously, he worked with Charles H. Leddie and with Johnson & Flad. From 1895 to 1900, he was an independent contractor. Colnon married Jeremiah Fruin’s daughter, Katherine, in 1895. Upon Fruin’s death in 1912, Colnon presided over the Fruin-Colnon Contracting Company until his own death in 1927.
Fruin-Colnon worked extensively in the St. Louis region, but also held contracts nationwide. The early projects varied widely and included public works such as sewer projects and street grading, industrial facilities, commercial and municipal buildings, and even a few residential projects. The company also worked on the Jefferson Barracks Bridge (St. Louis County), the Maumee River Crossing bridge (Toledo, Ohio), and the Taum Sauk Reservoir (Missouri). The company specialized in commercial building, industrial projects (food, refineries, chemical), power plants, and water/sewage treatment plants.
In the 20th century, the company expanded into an extensive organization that included several subsidiary companies to better serve its diverse clientele. The growth also spurred several name changes and reorganizations. In the 1960 Fore Cite company magazine, Fruin- Colnon Contracting Company listed the following subsidiary companies: Fruin-Colnon International SA, Fruco Construction Company, Fruin-Colnon International Inc., Fruco Realty Company, International Process Corporation, and Process Piping Co. The company’s headquarters remained in St. Louis but it opened regional offices around the country which varied and changed over the years, depending upon the construction market.
In 1975, Fru-Con Corporation was established as the parent company for three operating companies: Fruin-Colnon Corporation, Fru-Con Construction Corporation, and Fruco Engineers, Inc. Each company provided specific services and had its own president and staff. In 1978, Germany’s Bilfinger + Berger Bauaktiengesellschaft, one of the 25 largest construction companies in the world, purchased 40% of Fru-Con Corporation. In 1984, Bilfinger Berger took ownership of Fru-Con and renamed it Fru-Con Construction Corporation. In June 2011, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc. purchased Fru-Con Construction from Bilfinger Berger for $20 million. At the time, Fru-Con was based in Virginia and specialized in water and wastewater projects.
[For more information see 125 Years of Performance and Achievement, by Fru-Con, c.1998, MHS Library.]