About Us

History

Building Tomorrow's infrastructure since 1884

1884

the Beginning

Patrick W. Ryan was the son of James Ryan, an Irish immigrant who brought his family to America in 1851 as a result of Ireland’s potato famine.

The James Ryan family settled in Southern Wisconsin and made their living by farming and renting horses and slip scrapers to the railroads.

By 1884 Patrick Ryan had established himself as P.W. Ryan, an independent contractor. Most of his contracts were with the railroads as they built new lines in their expansion to the west.

1912

Contracting Career

William H. Ryan, a 1908 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, went to work as an engineer for a railroad but soon recognized that seniority was a major hurdle for a young ambitious man. So following the lessons learned from his father P.W. Ryan, he contracted with the railroad for a roundhouse in South Dakota and began his lifelong contracting career.

In 1913, as the highway construction industry was maturing, Bill Ryan formed a partnership with his brothers.

P.W. Ryan Sons soon became one of the largest grading and crushing contractors in the State of Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Their period in history saw great changes from the horses and mules to tractor-drawn and self-propelled scrapers, and the rise of Caterpillar, RG LeTourneau, and other great manufacturers.

1952

Expansion

William J. Ryan, Thomas M. Ryan, and Donald P. Ryan, who had learned the business from their father William H. Ryan, began operations as Wisconsin highway grading contractors. Soon after, they expanded to other states and during the height of the Interstate and Toll Road construction era had offices in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and West Virginia.

As industry and home builders began developing larger tracts of land, the earth moving component became a sizeable portion of the work and Ryan Incorporated of Wisconsin became one of the top five site developers in the country.

In 1971 an office was opened in South Florida with the first project, a 600 acre tract for Centex, an organization the Ryans had worked with for years in the Chicago area.

1985

new frontiers

By 1985 the three principals of Ryan Incorporated Wisconsin had 20 children and decided to create two separate fourth generation companies. The children of William J. Ryan took over the Florida operation, and their cousins took over the Chicago and Wisconsin offices.

Since 1985 and the eventual consolidation of entities into The Ryan Companies, the organization has had offices in Deerfield Beach, Naples, and Orlando, Florida; Manassas, Virginia; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Naperville, Illinois.

The experience base of this organization is very extensive both in terms of geographical area and in work type.