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History
Californians
who drink the clean water that comes from the great reservoirs of the
Sierra would be surprised to learn how two partners from Ireland
contributed to the construction of their state's great aqueducts.
Michael J. McGuire emigrated from Ireland in the 1890's. After having been
a successful U.S. Bonds fund-raiser and union member with the
boilermakers, McGuire decided to start his own construction business in
1926. He began installing sewers for new and existing residences in
Oakland, Berkeley and Piedmont.
In 1931, he took on a partner, another immigrant from Ireland by the name
of Mike Hester, and extended the scope of the company's operations until
they covered all the Bay counties. At first, they worked for other
contractors, gaining a good reputation for drainage work on such major
Depression-era projects as the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland. Mike
Hester was known for picking the best people to work for the company. Occasionally he would line up new recruits on a pipe job
evenly spaced and the ones that hand dug the most by day’s end would
remain. By 1935, they quit
using their 1921 Buick touring car as a mobile tool shed when they bought
their first pickup truck.
During World War II, the two partners quickly became major Bay Area
players, laying all the underground utilities at the massive Oakland Army
Base and nearby Naval Supply Depot. The company also installed a
section of the massive Hetch Hetchy water system for the City of San
Francisco.
The partnership continued to grow, and in 1947, McGuire and Hester was
incorporated. In 1948, Michael J. McGuire passed away and Mike Hester
subsequently purchased his remaining interest in the firm.
In the 1950's and 1960's as the Bay Area spread, so too, did McGuire and
Hester expand its operations in Northern California. This growth was
assisted by the addition of the second generation, Joseph M. Hester and
Robert E. Hester, sons of Mike Hester.
In 1962 McGuire and Hester constructed the prototype of the California
Aqueduct Canal; 10 miles of canal and appurtenances around the City of
Livermore supplying water to the Santa Clara Valley. It was on this
project that McGuire and Hester developed methods and techniques for
trimming and lining canals that would later show up in major water
projects in California and worldwide.
In step with the times, McGuire and Hester installed its first
computer – an IBM System 36 and became the beta site for construction
related software programs.
In the early 1970’s, under the leadership of Joseph M. Hester, the
company’s capabilities gradually expanded into all types of underground
construction, as well as grading and paving, reinforced concrete
structures and mechanical work. The company undertook some major landmark
urban projects in the 1970's and 1980's, including the Market Street
beautification in San Francisco from the Embarcadero to 7th Street, the
Powell Street Cable Car Mall and turntable, Napa Downtown Mall and Clock
Tower, and the City of Concord Plaza.
Until his death in 1991, Mike Hester came to work every day and had a
lifelong avocation as a philanthropist. He helped found Oakland's Saint
Vincent de Paul Society soup kitchen. Today, his son, Joseph, carries on
the family tradition of philanthropy. Joseph is a trustee for the McGuire
and Hester Foundation, formerly known as the Michael and Maureen
Hester Foundation, which sponsors education-oriented projects, aimed
primarily at Oakland's inner-city children. From its inception in the
1960’s, the foundation has contributed millions to various projects.
In
1998 Joseph Hester received the "Scout of the Year" Award from
the Boy Scouts of America for his and his wife's dedication to emergency
foster care, for having taken in over 300
children on an emergency basis .
Joseph
Hester has also been very involved with the construction industry. He has
served as District Manager and Chairman for the Association of General
Contractors and on the board of the Teamsters' Health and Welfare Trust
for 15 years.
In 1990, the third generation took on the daily operations of the company
when Michael R. Hester succeeded Joseph M. Hester as President.
Under Michael R. Hester's leadership, McGuire and Hester developed a
reputation for emergency work. This reputation led to the involvement in
the repair of such major catastrophes as the collapse of the Cypress
freeway in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the Oakland Hills firestorm of
1991, and various floods/landslides within the Bay Area during the "El
Nino" winter of 1998. The company's emergency response capabilities
resulted in several of its personnel being asked to join an elite national
search and rescue team that went to Northridge in Southern California
following that region’s earthquake in 1994.
The company expanded its underground division through its involvement with
numerous microtunneling projects throughout the Bay Area. This included
one of the first microtunneling projects to be performed in Northern
California, the Everglades Sewer Rehabilitation Project
for Union Sanitary District completed in 1993.
With the new millennium, McGuire and Hester is part
of the construction team building the new Port of Oakland’s Vision 2000
Project.
The history of McGuire and Hester is considerable and embedded in the San
Francisco Bay Area. McGuire and Hester has built and maintained its
reputation as a service and client-oriented company meeting the changing
and growing needs of the expanding market. The emphasis on quality
and integrity, service to clients and concern for each individual remains
our primary focus. McGuire and Hester, and its dedicated employees,
look forward to the future.
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