C H I C A G O
1 9 0 8
It was the second consecutive year the Cubs won the World
Series; the year William Howard Taft won the presidential
nomination in the Chicago Coliseum; the pinnacle of Chicago’s
influence on the Jazz Age throughout the United States and
Europe. It was also just two decades after electrical service had
been inaugurated in Chicago and six years after the city’s public
transportation systems began to operate with electrical power.
The 16-story Monadnock at the corner of Jackson and
Dearborn was the first large office building to be wired for
electricity. Alternating current generators had been devised,
making it possible to transmit electricity over long distances.
A year earlier, the Chicago Edison Company had merged with
Commonwealth Electric to form the Commonwealth Edison
Company. It was a promising time to begin an electrical
contracting business.
Thomas O. Meade, then a young man selling
lamps in the Chicago area, and Charles Dempsey,
a bill collector, each put up $225 in capital and
joined forces to form Dempsey and Meade
Electrical Contractors.
Working out of a rented storefront on Madison Street near
Spaulding, Dempsey and Meade converted gas lighting to
electric lighting in neighborhood buildings. Each partner drew
a salary of $30 a week. Work was usually contracted on a twoyear, time-payment plan and to meet monthly business expenses,
they arranged with a local bank to provide financing for their
customers. Capital assets in those early days consisted of some
stock and a Model T truck. Switch boxes had not yet been
developed and fittings had to be devised on the site. The need
for an electrical switch was evident, and in 1913 Dempsey and
Meade invested $6,000 to develop a “make-and-break” switch
that was later sold to an electrical parts manufacturer.
That same year the Illinois legislature passed a bill creating
the State Public Utility Commission. By designating electrical
service as a public utility, the legislature acknowledged its
increasingly widespread use in homes, offices and industry and
provided assurance to the consumer that equitable, affordable
rates would be maintained.
In August of 1916 a second business was launched when
Thomas Meade announced the opening of the Dempsey Ford
Automobile Agency at 3242-44 West Madison Street.
1
Meade and Dempsey dissolved their joint business interest in
1919, with Meade taking over the electrical business and
Dempsey the automobile agency.
The decade following World War I was a period of growth
and prosperity in the United States. Chicago’s first radio station,
KYW, began broadcasting and electric refrigerators were
introduced by Commonwealth Edison. In 1920, Michael J.
Boyle organized 400 electricians at Commonwealth Edison
into the Illinois Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local #134.
Commonwealth Edison discontinued electrical installation
service for its customers and the newly organized electricians
went to work for contractors throughout the city.
1919
Edward R. Hansen, a general construction foreman at
Commonwealth Edison, joined Meade Electric as head
construction supervisor in 1920. He made the acquaintance
of Joseph Lizzadro who, at the age of 22, had already been
employed at Meade for four years.
Recognizing the potential of these young men, Thomas Meade
brought Lizzadro and Hansen into the business as minority
stockholders. Each man borrowed $3,000 to purchase shares,
and the company was incorporated as Meade Electric Company,
Inc. on September 9, 1922.
During the early ’20s, converting homes, apartment buildings,
stores and commercial properties to electric light continued.
The company also operated a retail appliance store that sold
vacuum cleaners, washing machines and toasters. Lizzadro and
Hansen took turns clerking in the store during the evenings.
In 1924 the West Park Board of Directors decided to
modernize the park systems by illuminating Douglas, Garfield
and Humboldt parks and Logan Square. Included in this
modernization were the Garfield Park Conservatory, other park
buildings and the West Side boulevard system, which encompassed Douglas, Jackson and Washington boulevards. Meade was
low bidder for the job and received a $500,000 contract. In the
absence of power tools, trenches were dug by hand and Lizzadro
took over the supervision of the project working far into the
night. By the time the job was complete, the young management team at Meade had gained valuable experience in the
installation of manholes, concrete pole foundations and duct
work as well as cable pulling.
The retail appliance store, no longer profitable, was closed
in 1927. Meade purchased a two-flat apartment building at
3252 Franklin Boulevard and moved the company there.
The remodeled second floor of the building became the
company’s offices, while the first floor and basement were
converted into a shop and stock room. A garage was added
for truck and equipment storage.
Throughout the ’20s Meade secured additional contracts such as
the Graemere Hotel, the Midwest Athletic Club and the Golden
Dome Building in Garfield Park. During this period Hansen
was in charge of all electrical installations in new buildings.
Frank Erickson, another former Commonwealth Edison
electrician, became a Meade estimator and job superintendent.
2
On January 25, 1929, 21 years after he started
the company, Thomas Meade was killed in an
automobile accident when the car in which he was
riding skidded on an icy street and became lodged
in frozen streetcar tracks. A streetcar, unable to
stop in time, crushed the disabled car against an
adjacent elevated train structure. Meade was thrown
from the vehicle and died instantly.
In this time of sadness, Lizzadro and Hansen continued managing the firm, ably assisted by Meade’s sister, Jessie, who was the
firm’s secretary.
The majority of ownership passed to Meade’s widow Doris,
and his sisters, Jessie and Lily.
Work continued as usual, and that year Meade Electric
received a $500,000 contract to provide street lighting for
Augusta Boulevard. The work was completed during the
summer of 1929.
On October 29, 1929, the stock market collapsed. Work ground
to a halt throughout the country. Unemployment and bread
lines grew as millions of workers lost their jobs and the economy
was perched on the brink of disaster.
At Meade Electric, management curtailed unnecessary activities
and reduced expenses. Most of the company’s assets were in
West Park 6% bonds, which had been received from the Park
Board as payment for work done. A choice investment before
the crash, these bonds quickly dropped to 50 percent of par
value. Little work was contracted until 1933. Lizzadro and
Hansen each drew $15 per week, Erickson $35.
In March of 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated.
He ordered all banks in the United States closed. Among those
to never reopen were the banks where Meade had major funds.
Working capital was virtually depleted. Only one small bank,
where Meade had limited deposits, reopened with the support
of the First National Bank of Chicago.
Efengee Electrical Supply Company, a long-time supplier,
agreed to deliver materials needed for any jobs Meade could
secure and to extend credit until Meade had received payment
from its customers. Its gesture of good faith helped Meade
survive the Depression.
In the early ’30s, Lizzadro and Hansen purchased all outstanding
company stock from Thomas Meade’s widow and sisters.
The need to generate new business was essential. Fortunately,
Roosevelt established the Public Works Administration, providing programs to construct and finance public buildings through
government loans, thereby creating work for the building trades.
Under this program Meade successfully bid on an electrical
contract for the 17-story Cook County Nurses Home being
built next to Cook County Hospital (now John H. Stroger Jr.
Hospital of Cook County). To the lean and hungry Meade
Electric Company of 1932, this was a bonanza. The contract
was for $100,000 and Erickson supervised the project.
Soon there were signs of economic improvement. Air conditioning had been developed and was being installed in theaters
and restaurants. Commonwealth Edison installed its millionth
electrical meter in the new Daily News building and put into
service the world’s largest turbine generator — a ranking that
held for the next 25 years. On the lakefront, the Chicago
World’s Fair “Century of Progress” prepared for its opening
in the summer of 1933 and Meade secured contracts for the
electrical work at the fair’s Italian Village, Italian Winery,
Venetian Glass Blower’s Building and Hollywood Island.
During the ’30s another unexpected source of capital materialized
when the various park districts were merged into the Chicago
Park Board. Provision was made to redeem the bonds held by
Meade at $103 per unit, a figure that included 10 years of
retroactive interest. Working capital had increased substantially.
Commonwealth Edison increased its services by incorporating
other utility companies and supplying both gas and electricity to
Chicago and a large portion of northern Illinois. By the end of
the decade, fluorescent lighting had moved from experimental
usage to practical installation and 90 percent of new homes had
either electric or gas refrigerators.
In the late 1930s, at a time when farmers were beginning to
form cooperatives, the federal government introduced the Rural
Electrification Act (REA) to provide electricity to more farm
communities. The REA created an opportunity for rural electric
line construction, and Meade established an office in Petersburg,
Illinois, providing an outlying base of operations to handle
this business. Linemen were paid 90 cents an hour and a
superintendent earned $50 a week. The cost of the entire
30-man payroll at Meade was approximately $650 a week. Many
of the experienced journeymen who joined Meade were former
Commonwealth Edison employees, and their skills enhanced
Meade’s reputation in the electrical construction field.
One of the projects completed under the supervision of Frank
Lizzadro, Joseph’s brother, was floodlight installation for baseball
fields. This new concept enabled sports fans to watch nighttime
games at Shewbridge Field, Mills Stadium and other sports
arenas throughout Chicago.
In the early 1940s, a new avenue of business was developed
through the initiative of Joseph Lizzadro. Noticing that state
traffic lights and pumping stations in the Chicago area were
poorly serviced and maintained, he called on the director of
public works in Springfield. He was informed that the state
maintained its own systems, using state-owned equipment and
contracted labor. When a strike of state-employed electricians
took place a few weeks later, Meade was asked to take over
temporarily. Joseph Lizzadro took charge of the crew and learned
the technical operation of the control system. To keep the
system running smoothly, Meade made a considerable capital
investment in tools, trucks and other equipment and expanded
into the traffic signal maintenance field. In addition to the
State of Illinois Public Works maintenance contract, Meade
also installed the area’s first vehicle-activated traffic signal in
Downers Grove, Illinois.
1933
From 1933 to the end of the decade, Hansen shepherded
electrical work on a number of public schools, including Taft,
Steinmetz, Hyde Park and Carver high schools; and Clinton,
Brennan, LaFollette, Lewis and Marquette grammar schools.
Business conditions were finally approaching a normal level
again and with the growth of cities, the need for electrical
service widened.
That same year, a truck-mounted aerial platform
was designed and built under the supervision of
Frank Lizzadro for use on street-lighting jobs. This
represented one of many valuable contributions he
made to the company’s progress through the years.
In 1941, Meade estimated its first job for U.S. Steel
Corporation’s sheet and tin mill plant in Gary, Indiana. The
work required the construction of an electrolytic tinning line
to increase the production of tin cans used to package food for
the U.S. Army during World War II.
Although the Meade team headed by Joseph Lizzadro and
Samuel Brown was made up of knowledgeable construction
people, it had no experience in this type of work. The job was
underbid and proved to be far more difficult and costly than
estimated. Joseph Lizzadro camped on the site until the project
was completed. His concern and determination to provide
complete satisfaction evoked the respect and admiration of
Robert Magnetti of U.S. Steel. Magnetti took the Meade group
under his wing, helped Brown acquire the hard-to-get copper
needed for the project, and was instrumental in Meade’s
acquiring other jobs from the U.S. Steel headquarters in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This knowledge and training led to
better coordination with the steel company’s engineering staff
and, ultimately, to numerous steel plant, oil refinery and other
heavy industrial projects in the Gary-Hammond area. Within
a short time, Meade had two large customers in the Hammond
area: the General American Transportation Company and
U.S. Steel. The need for a regional office became apparent.
The world was still at war in 1944 when Hansen and Joseph
Lizzadro incorporated Meade Electric Company of Indiana, Inc.
Meade was now the major electrical contractor for the huge
steel plants and a small office was opened in Hammond. The
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1947
wartime scarcity of materials reserved for high-priority
government contracts meant that contractors frequently could
only work for the war effort. Meade appealed to the War
Rationing Board for sufficient gasoline to run its vehicles.
Companies with government contracts, such as Binks
Manufacturing, General American Transportation, Grebe
Shipyards and Groen Manufacturing, found it necessary to
increase their electrical capacity to meet the requirements of
war-production commitments. Meade was called in by these and
other companies to install new motors, and to rewire equipment
and presses for the additional power needed to meet this
increased emergency production.
Although much of the world was in ruins when the war
ended, America was still strong. Men were returning eager for
work and, as a patriotic gesture, the electrical unions opened
their doors to all former servicemen who wished to become
apprentice electricians. Among the ex-servicemen who joined
the Meade ranks were Joseph “Pat” Condon in 1947 and
Kenneth E. Heinz in 1948. It was also in this postwar period
that another ex-serviceman, Edward E. Hansen, son of
Edward R. Hansen, came into the company and began learning
the electrical contracting business.
4
The conversion of massive wartime productive capacity to
peacetime goods and services initiated an era of growth and
prosperity. In Hammond, the rapid growth of the company
required larger office space. Land was acquired to erect
permanent quarters containing both office and shop space.
In April 1949, Meade Electric Company of Indiana moved from
the Calumet Bank Building into its new building at 1825
Summer Street in Hammond. In 1951, after 20 years at U.S.
Steel, Robert Magnetti joined Meade as head of estimating and
engineering for the Hammond office.
Steel soon became readily available for automobile production,
and gasoline rationing ended. New cars were once again on the
road in large numbers and a decade of expressway construction
began. Meade’s maintenance department in Chicago took
on the Edens Expressway lighting system in the early ’50s.
During this period, Edward Heinlein, an engineer for the
Illinois State Highway Department, joined Meade to take
charge of the emerging traffic signal and highway lighting
maintenance department. Meade’s highway work soon included
all state routes in Cook, Will, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and
Lake counties in Illinois.
Beginning in 1952, substantial arterial and residential streetlight
construction work of more than 30,000 streetlights and in excess
of 4 million feet of cable was done for the City of Chicago.
1953
In 1953 Meade Electric Company moved its Chicago office
and shop from Franklin Boulevard to a much larger facility at
5401 Harrison Street. At that time Henry Burkhardt was head
of estimating and engineering. Journeyman electricians in
Chicago earned $3.18 an hour.
Much of the Chicago construction work in the ’50s involved
converting downtown office buildings from direct current to
alternating current. These jobs included the Daily News,
Builders, Fine Arts and Pittsfield buildings. However, Meade
continued to do electrical construction work for many major
corporations, such as General American Transportation, which
built a bulk storage tank terminal on prairie land in Argo,
Illinois. There were also projects for the University of Chicago,
among them Billings Hospital. When Binks Manufacturing
moved its operation from Chicago to Franklin Park, Illinois,
Meade wired over 300,000 square feet of space for the new
production and engineering operations.
purchased to better oversee the operation. It was also used
in the maintenance department to check out emergency calls in
congested areas.
To facilitate service, a two-way radio system was created to
link the Meade main office with its fleet of service vehicles.
Calls were received and instantly transmitted to service vehicles
working near the problem area.
John McKenna joined Meade Electric Company of Indiana
in 1954 to organize and manage a motor repair shop operation
at the Summer Street location. This shop enabled Meade to
provide needed motor repair services to industrial customers.
About this time Meade was awarded a contract to light
the Illinois Toll Road at interchanges and service areas from the
Indiana state line to Lake Cook Road. A helicopter was
While the growth of Meade Electric Company of Indiana was
closely tied to the expanding operations of U.S. Steel and
General American Transportation, the company also took on the
5
1957
installation of the municipal street lighting system in the city of
Gary, Indiana. About the same time, Meade was the successful
bidder for the construction of the Indiana Toll Road two-way
radio communications project, which led to the company’s
future involvement with electronics.
In 1957 Pat Condon was assigned to Hammond as an estimator
in the construction department. At approximately the same
time, Joseph Lizzadro Jr. joined Meade in Chicago and began his
career working with Frank Lizzadro in traffic signal and highway
lighting construction.
By 1959, the motor repair shop had expanded its services to
include the repair of heavy industrial magnets. Additional space
needed for this specialized work was provided at the Summer
Street address. The prosperity of the late ’50s and early ’60s
brought not only an abundance of work for Meade, but created
opportunities for growth and diversification.
Highway maintenance continued to grow, and in 1960 a satellite
shop was opened in Addison, Illinois, followed by shops in
Arlington Heights and Orland Park a few years later.
Inland Steel Company opened the way to more heavy
construction work for Meade in 1962, with a contract covering
its 80-inch hot strip mill in East Chicago, Indiana.
6
In 1964 Meade Electric Company of Indiana began construction
of an 84-inch hot strip mill for U.S. Steel in Gary. The project
employed more than 400 electricians, the largest number of
tradesmen used to date on any single Meade contract. While on
this project, Meade became involved in on-the-job fabrication of
special heavy-metal junction boxes and support brackets. As the
tradesmen became more skilled at their tasks and the work continued at an increasing tempo, Joseph Lizzadro created a separate
department to provide metal fabrication for the steel mill work.
1960
In the middle ’60s, under the supervision of Richard Brown,
Samuel Brown’s son, the M.E. Electrical Companies, Inc. was
formed as a separate entity to handle a large construction project
for the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company in Hennepin,
Illinois. There, on a cleared cornfield along the Illinois River,
Jones and Laughlin planned to build a steel mill with completely
integrated steel production capabilities. To provide housing
and a headquarters for its staff working on the project, Meade
purchased and operated the 100-room Kaskaskia Hotel in
nearby LaSalle, Illinois. Tradesmen were attracted from all over
the country to work on this project.
Following Samuel Brown’s death in 1965, William Woodward,
with 20 years’ seniority at Meade, became head of Meade
Electric Company of Indiana.
An opportunity for a new type of maintenance business
occurred at this time when the Indiana Toll Road Commission
awarded Meade the contract for maintaining a two-way radio
and microwave communication network across the state of
Indiana from the Ohio border to the Illinois state line. A
separate electronics department was formed to handle this state
work, as well as to provide repair service of two-way radios for
business and industry. By the late ’60s the shop had diversified
to include the sale, installation and service of closed-circuit
television systems. To improve response time for service calls
7
along the Indiana Toll Road, Meade opened a satellite service
shop in Mishawaka, Indiana, under the supervision of John
Zimmerman.
Success in Indiana and in Hennepin, Illinois, prompted Joseph
Lizzadro Sr. and Edward R. Hansen to activate other expansion
plans they had developed. So in 1967 two new out-of-state
contracting offices providing estimating and engineering services
were opened. The first was in Pittsburgh, where an industrial
economic base promised many construction opportunities.
Soon another office was opened in Cleveland, Ohio, where
work was contracted with Republic Steel. However, the demand
for electrical construction quickly diminished and the Cleveland
office was closed three years later.
1967
Woodward retired in 1967 and Joseph Lizzadro Jr., after 10
years in the field, took over the management of Meade Electric
Company of Indiana.
Early in 1968 work at the Jones and Laughlin project in
Hennepin was nearing completion when M.E. Electrical
Companies purchased Norris Electric Company in Joliet,
Illinois, to strengthen its position in the growing Joliet market.
About the same time, Meade Electric Company purchased
Braley Electric Service, Inc. of Westmont, Illinois, from Lewis
Unsbee. Braley’s experienced personnel, active in the area,
enabled Meade to pursue light industrial work throughout
DuPage County.
At the conclusion of the Hennepin project and with the
prospect of additional work in the Joliet area, M.E. Electrical
Companies moved its operation to Rockdale, Illinois, where it
built a new facility at 79 Moen Avenue.
In January of 1971 Meade Electric Company, Inc. and Meade
Electric Company of Indiana, Inc. became Meade Electric
Company, Inc. Edward E. Hansen was president and the
corporate headquarters were established at 5401 Harrison Street,
Chicago. In the fall of 1971, M.E. Electrical Companies, Inc.
was dissolved. After the merger, the Hammond operation
consisted of the motor and magnet repair shop, construction
department, the fabrication shop and electronics department.
In Chicago, Meade operated construction and highway
maintenance departments. Pittsburgh and Joliet both continued
at a healthy growth rate.
Then in September of 1972 the company and
community were saddened by the sudden death
of Joseph Lizzadro Sr. By the time of his death at 74,
Lizzadro, who began as an immigrant laborer,
had become a respected industry leader and patron
of the arts and charitable organizations.
Succeeding his father, Joseph Lizzadro Jr. became chairman of
the board of Meade Electric Company, and Edward E. Hansen
continued as president. They, along with Edward R. Hansen and
Mary Lizzadro, comprised the board of directors.
8
In 1973, Jesse Shalla, who had joined Meade in 1967, became
manager of the now-thriving motor and magnet repair operation
in Hammond, which soon was to add a new shop facility in
Boardman, Ohio, under the supervision of Clyde Foor. Henry
Burkhardt retired, and after 26 years with Meade, Kenneth
Heinz, who had moved up through the construction ranks from
apprentice to superintendent, was given responsibility for the
Chicago construction department. Growth in the electronics
field also provided expansion opportunities and Meade opened
an electronics shop in Chicago at the Harrison Street facility.
Anthony D. Hirsth, who joined Meade in 1967, was appointed
head of the Joliet operation in the fall of 1973 as the company
continued to attract industrial and refinery work.
Construction work in Hammond in the ’70s moved at a brisk
pace with jobs for the Arco Refinery, Bethlehem Steel, U.S.
Steel, Inland Steel and Northern Indiana Public Service.
The mid-’70s found Joseph Lizzadro Jr. and Edward E. Hansen
looking to the future. They instituted plans to decentralize the
rapidly growing corporation, and the Meade departments were
reorganized into four divisions:
• CONSTRUCTION DIVISION, with major offices in
Chicago, Joliet, Hammond and Pittsburgh
• ELECTRONICS DIVISION, with offices in Chicago and
Hammond
• MOTOR/MAGNET DIVISION, with offices in Hammond
and Boardman
• HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE DIVISION, headquartered
in Chicago.
To better serve the growing Chicago market, the Electronics
Division moved to new headquarters in Broadview, Illinois.
Services at this location included the sales, engineering, design,
installation and maintenance of closed-circuit television systems
and card-access control systems.
By 1976 the Construction Division in Chicago was involved in
high-tech computer science. Meade was invited by Chicago
Rail Terminal Information System to bid on a pilot project for
the railroads. A color-coded panel was affixed to the sides of
railroad cars so that rolling stock could be optically scanned and
monitored to report its location and movement at any time.
Meade maintained the scanners and computers.
The Hammond fabrication shop doubled its volume and
outgrew its space, necessitating another move to a larger facility
at 6015 Hump Road in Hammond. With the move, this
department officially became a Meade subsidiary known as
Fabrication Specialists, Inc. Management continued under
Pat Condon’s guidance.
Meade’s eighth decade would see many new
ventures, greater expansion and evolving
management philosophies to keep pace with the
ever-quickening changes in technology.
The Highway Maintenance Division opened a special shop
in Bellwood, Illinois, to consolidate its electronic traffic signal
repair facilities, which had been scattered throughout satellite
locations in Arlington Heights, Addison, Orland Park and
Chicago. This facility would also function as a centralized
training center for traffic-signal-controller repairmen. At the
same time, the maintenance shop in Addison was relocated to
Naperville, Illinois, to provide better service in DuPage County.
Since its modest start in the 1940s, the Highway Maintenance
Division had developed into a major business that serviced
approximately 1,600 traffic signal installations and more than
20,000 street lights on highways, expressways and interstate
roads, and 55 storm-water pumping stations in the Chicago
metropolitan area.
Condon succeeded Magnetti as Hammond’s division manager
in 1978. The wage for an electrical journeyman had increased to
$12.25 an hour plus another $3.50 an hour in direct benefits.
In June of 1980, Meade incorporated the Electronics Division as
a subsidiary, Meade Electronics, Inc., with Richard Norwood as
president. That same year, L & H was formed as the holding
company for Meade Electric Company.
Seeking further diversification, Chairman of the Board
Joseph Lizzadro Jr. and President Edward E. Hansen created
two additional Meade subsidiaries. In January of 1981 the
engineering firm of Meade, Murer and Smith Associates, Inc.
was incorporated, with headquarters in Warrenville, Illinois.
In addition to traditional disciplines — electrical, mechanical,
The second subsidiary was added when Lizzadro, anticipating
the introduction of cable television installation work in Chicago,
formed Meade Cable Television, Inc., headquartered in Orland
Park, Illinois. Eugene Schmidt was named president. The new
company would prepare and install both the underground and
overhead mainline cable networks and distribution systems in
Chicago, Vernon Hills, Niles and Evanston, Illinois.
In 1982 Kenneth Winchel, who had joined Meade in 1955 as
a shop technician in the maintenance department, succeeded
Edward Heinlein as manager of the Highway Maintenance
Division in Chicago. Also in 1982, Paul Sobkowicz accepted
the management of the Pittsburgh office of the Construction
Division, succeeding retiring manager Henry Therrien.
The early 1980s brought a worldwide recession. As Meade
Electric Company neared its 75th year, unemployment in the
United States exceeded 10 percent. By 1983, however, there
seemed to be signs of recovery and the promise of economic
growth as the stock market reached an all-time high with Dow
Jones topping 1200 for the first time.
1976
In 1977, the Highway Sign Division was opened in Joliet to
erect and maintain highway and auxiliary road signs. This
division operated under the direction of James Davidson,
formerly a field engineer with the Texas Highway Department.
structural and civil engineering — the firm offered construction
management, e.g., the vapor recovery system and piping
renovations for Texaco in Lockport, Illinois.
The Construction Division in Chicago was involved with
projects for Elmhurst Memorial and Resurrection hospitals as
well as the rehabilitation of existing landmarks including the
Santa Fe Building in downtown Chicago. In addition to primary
and secondary power distribution, including office remodeling,
Meade Electric Company rewired the ceiling rosettes in this
elegant old building and relamped them with lights of Edison’s
day. Meade also rewired the large chandeliers after they were
refinished and put all the lights on a dimming system. As
the splendid office space was developed in the Santa Fe
Building, many of the tenants retained Meade for their electrical
contracting services.
The Hammond office continued to service the steel industry.
Major projects, including construction of blast furnace #13,
the largest in the Western hemisphere, for the U.S. Steel plant
in Gary, Indiana, and Inland Steel’s mammoth 42-foot-diameter
furnace completed in 1980, had earned Meade a favorable
reputation in the heavy industrial market.
In Joliet, the Construction Division took on instrumentation
and computer process control contracts, applying its expertise to
the design, engineering, software and installation of closed-loop
fire detection systems for Commonwealth Edison at its fossilfueled generating plants in Joliet, Chicago and Peoria.
At the Highway Maintenance Division, extensive development
and innovation in software for computerized traffic signal
control systems enabled Meade to monitor operations and make
adjustments by telephone interconnect from its Harrison Street
communications center. State-of-the-art programmable
controllers and microprocessors introduced an era of advanced
automation in traffic signal maintenance, with Meade in
the forefront.
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10
1982
The Chicago office in 1984 was deeply involved with the
University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Medical
Center. Construction and telecommunications crews began the
relocation of the computer and data center, including all underground cable. Over time, the building automation project
enabled all 22 University of Chicago hospitals to be controlled
from one location. This energy-efficient heating and cooling
plant produced steam or distilled water for the radiator system,
and monitored it in such a way that each hospital could be
billed separately. Meade would later install the electrical systems
for the first free-standing four-story MRI (Magnetic Resonance
Imaging) building at the University of Chicago, including an
administrative office, areas for patient testing, computer systems
that fed information to the scanner, and a laboratory.
As sophisticated telecommunications and data systems installations were on the rise, the steel industry continued to decline
in the United States. The Hammond office began to shed its
dependence on steel mill work by transforming a Sears store in
Gary into the Lake County Department of Public Welfare and
pursued diversification in institutional and commercial work.
A major corporate reorganization in 1986 was precipitated by
a change in the insurance industry that prevented Meade from
purchasing enough liability insurance to protect its assets. As a
result, Meade’s Motor/Magnet Division was incorporated as
Meade Industrial Services, Inc.; the Highway and Maintenance
Division became incorporated as Roadway Signal and Lighting
Maintenance, Inc.; and Meade Electric Company once again
became a traditional electrical contractor.
President Edward E. Hansen retired in 1986 after 39 years
with Meade, and Ken Heinz assumed the presidency while
continuing his role as Chicago district manager.
This was the era in which Meade became increasingly
involved in service and maintenance contracts to
make the petrochemical plants and refineries more
efficient. Energy-efficient heating, ventilation and
air conditioning installations brought even more
contracts to Meade.
A significant Chicago-area project was the new United Airlines
hangar at O’Hare International Airport. Due to the 105-foot
ceiling heights of the building, spider lifts were required to
install the vertical conduit on the walls. A conduit rack system
was designed to utilize the catwalk suspended 95 feet above the
floor. A stairway was its only access. One-hundred-foot boom
lifts were used for all other ceiling work. Several years later
Meade would install the United Airlines flight kitchen.
1985
David W. Eber joined Meade in 1985 to manage the fastgrowing Telecommunications Department and broaden Meade’s
approach. At first, 80 percent of that department’s business was
cabling for voice communication. While the department grew,
that percentage would become 20 percent while 80 percent of
the telecommunications business would be in fiber optic data
communications as clients upgraded their systems and prepared
for dazzling new technology. Meade installed the backbone
system for data and telephone at the 430 work stations on the
trading floor and 1,100 on the eight tower floors of the Chicago
Stock Exchange, with subsequent modifications. At 900 North
Michigan Avenue, Meade installed JMB’s infrastructure
telecommunications and data systems with 20 floors of riser
cabling and 1,200 work stations.
After 34 years at 5401 Harrison Street, the Chicago office of
Meade Electric Company moved to 710 Quail Ridge Drive in
Westmont in 1987. This relocation tripled the office space from
2,000 to 6,000 square feet, which allowed for necessary increases
in staff and state-of-the-art equipment. It also placed Meade
closer to its expanding client base in DuPage and Lake counties.
The storage facility for tools, material and equipment remained
at the Harrison Street address.
In 1986, Meade opened the Building Automation and Life
Safety Department. The new department brought in-depth
experience and knowledge of temperature controls, loadshedding, security and building alarm systems to Meade clients.
Among the notable projects in 1987 was the Chicago Freight
Tunnel, which utilized the abandoned underground system
as an alternative for crowded city duct banks and other overland
rights-of-way. All materials were carried by hand to the
construction area far below the city’s streets. Meade installed
the state-of-the-art fiber optic system that used 100 percent
digital technology capable of transmitting 1.7 billion bits of
information per second over a single pair of glass fibers and
provided links to many major Chicago buildings.
The Dolphin House at Brookfield Zoo posed challenges and
rewards. The nation’s third-largest zoo replaced the home of the
first inland dolphin exhibit as part of a trend toward educational,
naturalistic exhibits. Meade installed the controls for the
computer-operated and -monitored filtration equipment,
lighting and pumps. The equipment installed had to be immune
to the effects of salt water, the saline atmosphere and the humidity.
PVC requiring special tooling was used, as was stainless steel. All
boxes and panel boards were sealed and dust-free. Motors and
electrical control valves were controlled from circuitry within a
multiplexer cabinet wired by Meade.
During the first half of Meade’s ninth decade, the economy, the
global marketplace and changes in technology were factors that
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12
1987
drove Meade and its clients. “Partnering” became an important
management term and way of doing business with a commitment to quality by both owners and contractors. Partnering with
U.S. Steel and Edward Grey Construction; Walsh Construction
and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Litwin Engineers and
Constructors, Inc. and Mobil; with Amoco and with Ameritech
was beneficial for Meade, the contractors and the clients. Meade
had already begun a partnering relationship with Johnson
Controls to convert the Chicago Field Museum’s pneumatic
temperature control and automation system to high-tech digital
equipment, using thermostats, aqua stats and freeze stats to
monitor temperatures for the delicate artifacts and special
exhibits, and for temperature curtains between rooms.
As international marketing and expansion became critical to
successful U.S. businesses, fiber optics was the state-of-the-art
method for telecommunications and data transmission. Meade,
having been a leader from the beginning in fiber optic technology,
continued in the forefront of this sophisticated, fast-growing
segment of electrical contracting.
1988 saw the closing of the Pittsburgh office. Competition and
the decline of the steel industry placed severe restrictions on the
number and kinds of jobs Meade could win, and maintaining an
office there became impractical.
The beginning of 1989 brought a recession that was worse than
anyone realized at the time. While some of Meade’s competitors
declared bankruptcy or dropped from the scene, Meade Electric
Company remained strong through stepped-up sales efforts and
fast, efficient estimating processes. Relationships with existing
clients were solidified through Meade’s long-term reputation of
setting industry standards for quality, experience and customer
satisfaction.
In the 1980s, rehab projects, maintenance and blast furnace
relines with Inland, Bethlehem, LTV and U.S. Steel provided
the bulk of work for the Hammond office. By 1993, however,
steel would constitute only 30 percent of the Hammond office’s
business, with petrochemical companies including Amoco
accounting for more than 50 percent of its business. Many
commercial and institutional jobs were added.
That year Meade installed four modular MRI units at St. James
Hospital, Chicago Heights; St. Francis Hospital, Blue Island;
Christ Community Hospital, Evergreen Park/Oak Lawn; and
Illinois Masonic and Michael Reese hospitals, both in Chicago.
Meade also installed the MRI unit at Resurrection Hospital,
Chicago, along with a cogeneration system that put Resurrection
at the forefront in producing its own economical power.
Another high-profile job was the electrical contracting in the
new Bloomingdale’s store at 900 North Michigan Avenue.
As the recession slowed construction in Chicago,
Meade became more aggressive in pursuing
contracts in outlying areas such as DuPage, Kane
and Lake counties.
From its 4,000-square-foot Lake County office in Gurnee,
Illinois, Meade successfully completed contracts with Motorola,
Abbott Laboratories, Baxter Health Care Corporation, College
of Lake County and Commonwealth Edison.
1988
Another kind of partnering also gained popularity during this
time. Green Lights Partners, a voluntary alliance of corporations
and institutions, was committed to leading the way to the EPA’s
energy efficiency standards while improving lighting quality and
reducing carbon dioxide emissions. By 1992, 1,500 organizations would belong and the goal was for involvement by every
U.S. corporation. In this effort, Meade became a facilitator by
installing energy-saving lighting systems, retrofitting existing
fixtures or replacing energy-consuming mercury vapor lights,
and working on conservation methods within the industry.
In 1989 there would continue to be more contracts at that
building: the design, layout and engineering for the main data
and switch room; telecommunications and data installations for
20 floors of JMB commercial offices; and the electrical work
in a two-story condo residence, which included its own elevator
modeled after a NASA spaceship. In this departure from
commercial contracts, Meade enabled the owners to retract walls
by remote control and to enhance their art collection with a
lighting-and-dimming system governed by a handheld control.
Chicago electricians were paid $20.50 an hour plus benefits at
that time.
In Joliet, the new state-of-the-art Will County Jail, a 314-bed
facility, retained Meade to install the 3,000-ampere electrical
service with main switch gear, the 250-kilowatt emergency
generator, relay panels to control lighting in each pod, the
shift commanders station, and conduit for the closed-circuit
TV system, power and control wiring. Meade provided a
continuous power source for the security system’s indoor and
outdoor lighting, fire protection, call systems and door controls.
The systems interfaced through a sophisticated switching network. Other correctional institution jobs in this era were the
chiller plant at Cook County Jail, and work at Lake and DuPage
county jails in which Meade partnered with Johnson Controls.
Meade’s involvement included building automation and life
safety systems, i.e., fire and smoke alarm, temperature control,
communication and evacuation.
One of the world’s largest ballrooms lit up dramatically and
dimmed romantically when Meade installed 2,000 different
kinds of lights including chandeliers, each with 12,000 beads,
at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, Rosemont. Every light was
controlled by one of the most complex systems in existence and
operated independently. In East Chicago, Indiana, Meade
installed the computer controls and state-of-the-art thyristor
panels for Inland Steel’s walking beam furnace.
The year 1990 marked a significant geographic shift in the steel
industry that would make northwest Indiana the steel capital
of the United States. Meade continued working with U.S. Steel
on the modernization of its 84-inch hot strip mill and replacement of 15 KV feeders to the Q-BOF; with Inland Steel in
revamping its 80-inch hot strip mill; with LTV in relining its
#4 blast furnace; and with Bethlehem in installing its modern
hot dip galvanizing line.
Meade Electric Company President Kenneth Heinz traveled to
Greece, Switzerland and England to meet with the owners of
Beta Steel Company and study facilities in those locations before
commencing work on its Portage, Indiana mill. Beta moved
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14
1988
an entire steel mill in cargo containers on its own ships from
Newport, England to Indiana, and Meade installed the power,
control and computerization for the mill, including the reheat
facilities, roughing mill and five-stand strip mill. There were
few drawings available, necessitating on-site routing for tray
systems, conduit and cable and making this reconstruction
project a challenge for Meade as the prime contractor. The work
was headed by Thomas Roach, project manager.
In 1990 the community mourned the deaths of retired
presidents Edward R. Hansen at age 102 and his son,
Edward E. Hansen, at age 69. The senior Mr. Hansen, who
preceded his son in death by only two months, had joined
Meade in 1920, when electricity in homes was rare. In 1987,
when he retired from Meade, he had witnessed the transition to
fiber optics for miraculously fast and clear transmission of voice,
video and data intelligence. Edward E. Hansen, who joined
Meade after serving in World War II, was president from 1968
to 1986 and remained a director of the company until his death.
John S. Lizzadro Sr., son of Joseph Lizzadro Sr. and brother of
Joseph Jr., was named to the board of Meade Electric Company,
replacing Edward E. Hansen. He began work with Meade in
1963 as an apprentice electrician at Riverview Park in Chicago,
later focusing on the financial aspects of Meade.
In 1991, actively pursuing more government work, Meade was
named electrical contractor for the new 750,000-square-foot
U.S. Post Office in Carol Stream, Illinois. This project included
power distribution, lighting, computer room installation,
wiring of conveyors, and the lighting system for the helicopter
pad as well as all voice and data cabling. That year the
Telecommunications Department installed the cable and
duct bank system at Northwestern University, with the rewiring
of seven dormitories the following year. The Art Institute of
Chicago was the site of several projects at this time.
A citizens’ group in Gary formed the 9th Avenue Reclamation
Group in1992 to clean up, with EPA funds, an area of
hazardous waste that plagued a neighborhood each time it
rained. Meade installed pumps and filters to clean and relocate
the groundwater. This job required OSHA training classes,
special uniforms and monitoring for toxic exposure. EPA
guidelines caused Amoco, along with many other oil companies,
to install a desulfurization distillation unit (DDU) in Whiting,
Indiana, where Meade installed sensing devices, pumps and
controls. Also in 1992 Meade linked Floors 2 through 23 to a
central station in the national headquarters of Blue Cross/Blue
Shield in Chicago with 8,000 feet of 12-strand fiber optic cable
and 456 ST connectors.
Meade Electric Company President Heinz retired in 1992.
He had been with Meade for 45 years, starting as an apprentice
on the “trouble truck”, serving small industrial accounts and
residences with installation and fire repair work.
His career with Meade led from apprentice electrician to journeyman, project engineer, district manager and vice president
Mobil Oil Corporation’s Joliet Refinery expansion was the
largest contract in Meade’s Joliet office in 1993, with more
than 150 electricians working seven days a week for six months
to complete it. The schedule for this gigantic job required a fulltime, on-site project manager, a supervisor and administrative
personnel in an office set up especially to handle this job, plus a
project manager in the Joliet office to provide daily updates.
Slated for completion were Mobil’s new sulfur recovery unit
and continuous catalytic converter unit, plus off-site utilities
and a new cooling tower to support the two new units. Meade
supplied all the electrical needs including power distribution,
instrumentation and communications, and worked closely with
Litwin Engineers and Constructors, Inc., which designed and
engineered the construction.
Meade began its three-year contract in 1993 for construction
of the 1-million-square-foot Chicago U.S. Post Office,
replacing the existing building with a state-of-the-art general
mail facility. Also under construction was the five-story,
90,000-square-foot Robert Magnuson Pavilion at Elmhurst
Hospital. Its cancer treatment, intensive care, surgery, prenatal
and research departments required highly sophisticated
equipment and systems, along with backbone cabling for the
hospital’s telephone systems.
1990
After 43 years of service with Meade Electric, Vice President
and Division Manager Condon retired in 1990. Earl W.
Horecky was named vice president and district manager,
replacing Condon.
before his appointment as president and director in 1986. He
was succeeded by Anthony Hirsth, who was named president,
director and Chicago district manager. Hirsth helped open the
Joliet office in 1968 and was named vice president in 1977.
Completed at that time were recabling of all 420 trader and
specialist stations at the Chicago Stock Exchange with highspeed data cable, as well as electrical and data cabling on the
trading floor; rewiring 5,000 stations at the University of
Chicago; and partnering with U.S. Steel on its environmental
update installation of two 69KV-80MVA power feeders at
Substations 108 and 113 at the Gary Works.
In 1993, 10 years after completing work for the opening of
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange lower trading floor, Meade
once again was on hand for the opening — this time of the
upper trading floor — when the CME became “the World’s
Largest Marketplace.” Meade completed the currency and
financial trading sections and was responsible for power and
data transmittal; the 460 electronically controlled wallboards;
more than 50 miles of cable for data, fiber optics and video;
290 miles of regular electrical wiring; and custom-made switch
gear. Meade is on site seven days a week for ongoing tradingfloor changes and maintenance.
Meade’s successful Total Quality Management
program was instituted, and the mission statement
was established after theories of the country’s
business leaders were studied and adapted to
Meade’s needs. Despite an uncertain economy,
rapidly changing technology, and strong competition,
Meade more than held its own in the 1990s.
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16
1993
Timothy Swanson was named Safety Director of Meade Electric
Company in 1993. After studying lost-time data collected over
several years, Meade intensified efforts to improve its safety
record through programs, regular meetings, incentives, awards
and ongoing education. Meade was proud to announce its
incident rate was less than one-half of the national average for
the electrical contracting industry.
Telecommunications began playing a larger role in the ’90s.
Meade retrofitted voice and data cabling at Helene Curtis’
Research and Development Lab, now Unilever Home and
Personal Care USA, in Chicago and at Inland Steel’s Loop office.
At the University of Chicago, Meade installed enhanced data
cabling to more than 5,000 new work stations. Fiber optic cable
was placed in steam tunnels throughout the campus.
In 1996, Northern Trust Bank contracted with Meade Electric
Company to install its disaster recovery computer room. This
provided Northern with a mirror image of its main computer
room. Located in a remote site, the installation provides seamless
computer operations to the bank and its customers, assuring
continuous service in case of flood, fire or other catastrophe.
The Hammond District, under the leadership of Vice President
and District Manager Earl W. Horecky, constructed two highvoltage switch yards and a power distribution center for U.S.
Steel’s Gary Works. Also at U.S. Steel, Meade installed plant-wide
fiber optic data communications that included 27 miles of fiber
cables circling the plant. One of the Hammond District’s more
challenging projects was replacing an induction furnace on a
14-day, around-the-clock schedule at Midwest Steel.
The Beta Steel facility, which Meade had constructed in 1990 in
northwestern Indiana, suffered a tragic explosion in 1996, but
the mill was up and running once again in just 16 weeks due to
concentrated efforts spearheaded by Meade.
Diversifying from its mill and refinery work, the Hammond
office installed equipment to produce magnetic powder used in
the manufacture of audio and video recording tapes for ISK
Magnetics. Meade provided the electrical system including stage
lighting for the Performing Arts Center at Valparaiso University.
At LaPorte High School, Meade completed a three-and-a-half
year project, mostly while school was in session, installing the
electrical systems for a new 150,000-square-foot addition and
remodeling the existing 300,000-square-foot school. Meade
helped Porter Memorial Medical Center upgrade several
operating rooms and handled the electrical construction of a
new retail building at Lighthouse Shopping Mall in Michigan
City, Indiana. Meade continues maintenance and construction
at Amoco’s Whiting, Indiana refinery with more than 200
electricians on the job each day.
Turner Construction retained Meade Electric Company as part
of its team when Baxter Healthcare and Allegiance Healthcare
split their operations to facilitate corporate restructuring
with extensive remodeling. Near Gurnee, Meade installed the
electrical systems for Sterigenics’ new building where hospital
products are sterilized with radiation. Meade was contracted
to install power distribution, instrumentation, lighting,
grounding and heat tracing by DuPont Specialty Chemicals as
it replaced its delivery method of sulfur trioxide to Stepan
Chemical by truck.
Meade became more recognized and respected for its work in
health care facilities. St. Joseph’s Medical Center underwent
extensive renovation and construction with Meade. The
nine-story hospital added a three-floor wing with a birthing unit
and a cancer care center. Meade installed new power distribution
and nurse call systems and added a fourth emergency generator.
Mobil Oil continues as a strong client for Meade in the petrochemical market. An interesting project was the installation of a
two-mile-long, German-designed continuous-tube conveyor belt
that encloses coke, the coal-like waste from the oil-refining
process, by forming a tube around the dusty material. That tube
then transports the coke one mile to the river where it is loaded
into barges for shipping. This project contained many control
features and power requirements at each end of the conveyor
for the large motors moving the belt. The new process
eliminates continuous trucking of the coke and is much more
environmentally responsible since the coke dust no longer blows
across the landscape. In both 1996 and 1997, Mobil awarded
the Joliet office a special commendation for its outstanding
safety program.
1996
Projects for diverse organizations continued — from the Qwest
Communications’ Midwest regional telephone switch at the
Lyric Opera House to Kraft Foods’ new cold storage plant in
Kane County to providing underground duct banks for high
voltage cabling in Commonwealth Edison’s Oak Brook and
Rolling Meadows switch yards. Meade also remodeled the grand
ballroom and guest rooms, and added cabling and receptacles for
more power and communications at the Oak Brook Hills Hotel
and Resort. Meade was part of the remodeling team for the
Drake Oak Brook guest and conference rooms, restaurant and
ballroom, as well.
An important project — and an unusual one — is the
Buffington Harbor River Boat Casino facility in Gary. Meade
was involved with its many aspects, from relocating power lines
and distribution to hanging the chandeliers. Meade is
responsible for electrical maintenance of the boats themselves.
A $100 million expansion took place at the Amoco Chemical
Facility in Joliet with Meade’s help. Working with Jacobs
Constructors, Meade provided temporary services, 35kv underground distribution, instrumentation, substation installation,
lighting, cable tray and heat tracing.
At the Citgo Refinery in Lemont, Meade performed the
electrical work under Raytheon Engineers for the new
reformulation unit. The project consisted of new substations,
instrumentation, power distribution and a large complex heat
tracing system. Citgo has one of the most sophisticated heat
trace systems in the industry with elaborate monitoring and
alarm systems for early detection of problems. This unit
provides cleaner fuels for automobiles.
Opportunities for Meade Electric Company
at schools, office buildings, warehouses and
manufacturing plants resulted from active
development of these relationships and the
area’s growth.
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18
1996
The past decade has seen more change and growth
than perhaps the other nine combined.
In 1999, Frank J. Lizzadro was named CEO of Meade and the
reorganization of Meade Electric Company began.
At the start of its second century, Meade is organized by
function rather than geographical division and headquarters
for all, along with the shop and warehouse, have been moved
to McCook, Illinois, an advantageous location 15 minutes
from Chicago with easy access to its customers. Efficiencies
and communications among the leadership team and the ability
to serve customers have been greatly enhanced. Broader, fuller
services are now available to Meade clients.
Although known as the largest electrical contractor in the
Midwest, Meade goes where its customers need services, and is
greatly affected by the international market.
There are, however, some things that do not change: Meade’s
commitment to excellence in service and safety. Meade’s respect
for employees, clients, vendors and for its work. Its part in the
larger community. The sharp focus on educating employees.
An outstanding relationship with the electrical unions.
Meade’s Mission Statement vows dedication to continuous
improvement. The past 10 years show how that has manifested
itself.
For example, in 1998 Meade’s work declined at Amoco’s
Whiting Refinery when Amoco was purchased by British
Petroleum, and at U.S. Steel’s Gary Works during labor
negotiations. Slowdowns with other customers were attributed
to worldwide reductions in consumption, and the purchase
of — or mergers at — some of Meade’s accounts. Another
adversity for the U.S. market was increased imported steel.
Customers pressured for pricing concessions as they tried to
deflect foreign competition, decreased international buying, and
low scrap prices.
As the outlook for traditional work in the United States dimmed
somewhat, Meade took innovative steps to capture new business.
Partnering opportunities were investigated and exposure to
foreign markets increased through focused marketing with
international sales representatives.
Meade received ISO 9001 certification in 1998 and successfully
bid on two large orders for International Rolling Mills,
Alexandria, Egypt for fabricated magnets, battery backup power,
motorized cable reels, power rectifiers, Hubbell controllers and
disconnect switches. Three magnet systems and two 47-inch
Meade FDAL magnets were sold to Equipos Costa, LeBehr’s
crane distributor in Venezuela.
At that time, Commonwealth Edison awarded Meade the
electrical contract to install 24 cooling towers at the Rockdale,
Illinois Station. Meade received special recognition for prompt
Contracting and Material Company, an affiliate of Meade
managed by Frank J. Lizzadro, was merged into Meade in 2006.
This group installed 20,000 feet of 16-inch steel gas pipe, 600
feet of which was bored under the toll road and 500 feet under
the DesPlaines River in Wadsworth, Illinois for North Shore
Gas. Meade completed the project six weeks ahead of schedule.
Wisconsin Gas awarded C&M a contract for three southeastern
Wisconsin cities.
Six crews began working in the City of Chicago under C&M’s
Commonwealth Edison blanket agreement and completed a
1200-foot, 20-concrete-duct package nine feet deep at Chicago
Avenue and State Street. The electrical division was engaged in
large street lighting installations and renovations in Berwyn,
Naperville and Wilmette.
As Y2K approached, the world feared what might happen to
computer networks on the significant New Year’s Eve of 2000.
For its part, Contractors’ Data Services thoroughly tested its
systems, hardware and software, and certified them as Y2K
ready. Meade helped customers prepare for the event. Its largest
project was for The Northern Trust Company. The work
consisted of installing two natural gas-powered generators,
paralleling switchgear and new essential power feeders. The new
millennium arrived; computerized data were unscathed; and a
collective sigh of relief was heard around the world.
1999
Meade’s volume has tripled since 1999. Today there are more
than 1,600 people in the field, an administrative staff of over
200 — and Meade Electric Company continues growing.
Electricians now earn a total package of $70 an hour including
benefits, insurance and pension.
completion, allowing Commonwealth Edison to lower cooling
water temperature by eight degrees the following hot weekend,
thereby saving $1 million.
A letter of commendation and thanks was received from
Sargent & Lundy when Meade completed, ahead of schedule,
the renovation of 53,000 square feet of office floors at 30 East
Monroe Street, Chicago. Meade was also praised for efficiency
and engineering help by Nicor in Ancona, Illinois.
For the acid recovery project at International Steel Service, Inc.,
Midwest Steel, Meade installed a processing line to recover
and recycle hydrochloric acid used at the pickling line in steel
finishing. Until recently, waste acid was diluted with lake water
and pumped into underground wells.
Contracting & Materials Company worked extensively with
Peoples Gas Alliance, North Shore Gas and Commonwealth
Edison installing miles of pipe in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Working with Commonwealth Edison, C&M removed and
reinstalled 90,000 feet of cable on Chicago’s South Side. This
was the first time an outside contractor was permitted to identify
the cables and break the ComEd splices.
Throughout 2000, Meade’s significant work included the
Commonwealth Edison Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (SCADA) project, Northern Trust Bank, AT&T,
the Chicago Stock Exchange, and Parkway Corporate Center for
Turner Construction. That year, additions and renovations were
large institutional jobs at Rensselaer and Knox Community
schools in Indiana. The Lincoln Energy Center, built for
National Energy Production in Manhattan, Illinois included
eight gas turbine/electrical generators and an electrical utility
switch yard. Meade was contracted by Morrison Knudsen to
rescue a project at Aux Sable Liquid Products in Morris, Illinois.
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2001
Upon the retirement of Anthony D. Hirsth,
CEO Frank J. Lizzadro was named president of
Meade Electric Company in 2001.
The economic slowdown that began in 2000 encouraged Meade
to carefully rethink every aspect of the company, streamline
operations and demonstrate versatility. By early 2001, Meade
Electric Company executed some of the decisions made over a
year of facilitated strategic planning sessions and examination of
potential markets by the officers and management teams. At that
time, Contracting & Material’s electrical division was merged
into Meade Electric Company’s Utility & Municipal Services
Division. A significant reorganization occurred then as Meade
was divided into the five functional groups that exist today. The
Industrial Group handles chemical, steel and oil accounts; the
Commercial Group encompasses retail and institutional projects;
the Utility Group does all underground work and municipal
construction, and the Infrastructure Group handles construction
and maintenance for state and municipality accounts. The
Engineering and Technical Group supports all Meade clients.
This reorganization aligned Meade’s marketing and services
horizontally and replaced geographic segregation.
20
Meade’s clients’ ever-increasing demands for productivity spurred
putting new systems into motion.
Manpower rose to 1049 field and 145 administrative employees.
A contributing factor was Meade’s success in establishing strategic alliances within the Technical Services Group. Contracting
& Material, Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) and Asplundh were some
of the firms working with Meade within the City of Chicago.
These alliances were created to fulfill contracts with ComEd
under a new methodology whereby ComEd retains a general
contracting firm to assemble a team to perform the work.
One of these alliances with ABB, Zurich, Switzerland, the
world’s largest manufacturers of electrical equipment, led to
Meade’s assisting ComEd with the construction of several
new high voltage electrical power transmission substations
in Chicago, including the new DeKoven substation at
1100 South Jefferson Street.
Another valuable alliance occurred when Affiliated Computer
Services, Inc., a market leader of business process and information technology, asked Meade to join its team for a proposal to
the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority for a Toll Revenue
Management and Maintenance Program.
Meade and six other alliance firms were chosen as in-house
contractor group (RCA) for the BP Amoco Whiting facility.
A few years later, Meade would be named group manager.
BP Amoco later approved funding for the largest expansion
project yet at the Whiting facility.
With work on the DeKoven substation ending, Meade’s
Engineering and Technical Services group was rewarded for its
project management and engineering expertise when approached
by Commonwealth Edison to become its “Contractor of
Choice” for future substation construction projects.
When deregulation of the electrical power market in Illinois
caused reduced revenues from ComEd, Meade turned its attention to bringing higher value services to its clients, e.g., turnkey
project delivery including design and build. The company also
pursued nontraditional energy projects. Rick Wachter was
named vice president of the Industrial and Energy group.
The Exxon Mobil EPA-mandated sulphur reduction project
was a contract of note. A new alliance started in 2002 between
Meade and NIPSCO (Northern Indiana Public Service
Company) that allows NIPSCO’s sales and marketing groups to
promote Meade’s growing portfolio of energy delivery services
to about 2500 existing industrial and commercial customers.
2002
Meade began construction on IDOT’s Pump House #5 at
Desplaines and Van Buren streets in Chicago. This facility is
the workhorse of all 51 pump houses within the system, and
the project included construction of a 25- by 14-foot control
room, six pump change-outs and work on the old structure.
The Commercial and Institutional Group remodeled the
30,000-square-foot Northern Trust Bank in Oakbrook Terrace.
The bank stayed open during the year of construction as Meade
kept security, video cameras, telephone, electric power, and
HVAC and data systems running.
An area that Meade strengthened was co-generation plants
construction, completing a facility in Minooka, Illinois, with
the Dick Corporation and NEPCO. Meade successfully bid
on several more co-gen plants. In a few years, Meade would
commence work on the Illinois Homeland Security contract to
install traffic flow gates routing traffic away from the City of
Chicago as a means of evacuation.
Another promising installation was the Light-Emitting Diode
(LED), a replacement for the conventional incandescent
lamp inside traffic signal heads, that would save an estimated
85 percent of electricity and maintenance costs.
The goal of having centrally focused operations was coming
together in 2002, creating challenges and change. New niche
markets were developed. Engineering and Technical Services
continued to perform procurement, construction and engineering services on SCADA projects including the ComEd
Suburban Distribution Substation SCADA, IDOT Pump
Station SCADA, and Joliet Sand and Gravel Conveyer Controls.
Meade provided services for landfill methane gas-to-energy
projects for Omaha Public Power District in Nebraska, Wabash
Valley Power in Indiana and East Kentucky Power Cooperative.
Meade began to actively pursue design/build “Green Energy”
projects in Minnesota and New York and to provide construction proposals for wind-to-energy projects.
Meade determined that its true value to its customers is to be a
single-source solution. To that end, engineering expertise became
an important component. Headed by Charles E. Anderson, Meade
now has an Engineering Department of more than 10 with experience and degrees in electrical, mechanical and civil engineering.
Ongoing education, always a priority at Meade,
is crucial with the rapidly advancing technology of
the last decade.
In 2004, Chicago’s Loop retail vacancy rates reached abysmal
highs, as did the Michigan Avenue Corridor and the Chicago
Central Business District, thus eliminating the usually steady
need for new build-outs. Meade’s Commercial and Institutions
Group sought work in northwestern Indiana and northern
Illinois, particularly in healthcare and institutional markets.
A sharper marketing focus was made on fiber projects.
Meade put 350 electricians on site to begin rebuilding Blast
Furnace #13 for U.S. Steel Gary Works, which remains the
largest producing blast furnace in the western world.
Contracting & Material Company completed the largest steam
distribution project on record for WE Energies, a combined
gas, electric and steam utility in Wisconsin, and the largest such
project in Wisconsin’s history. The work, in downtown
Milwaukee, contained an underground vault with more than
270 yards of concrete, 20 by 30 by 30 feet. With up to 60
tradesmen working in close quarters, the job was finished ahead
of schedule and without incident — a major accomplishment.
21
22
2004
2006
On January 1, 2006, C&M became the Utility Group, in
another step toward single-source solutions for Meade clients.
One of the first acts of the new unit was a green-energy bid to
install windmills in southern Illinois.
One of the most environmentally sensitive projects in Meade’s
Utility Group history was a project in Barrington, Illinois. It
consisted of directional boring five miles of 12-inch steel gas
main. Eighty percent of the line of lay was in protected wetlands
and other environmentally sensitive areas, causing several delays.
Although working with a constricted schedule, Meade finished
the job one week ahead of time. The Utility Group also helped
restore natural gas service to more than 1,700 customers in
Hayward, Wisconsin during winter storms this year.
A focus for Meade has become the underground water system
market. Infrastructure in the United States is failing and highdensity polypropylene pipe is expected to be part of the solution.
In Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, Huntsman Chemical asked
Meade to travel to Texas to restore electrical service to its plant.
The Industrial and Infrastructure groups worked together to
mobilize 30 electricians. Meade also was awarded spring outage
work at Huntsman’s LaSalle-Peru facility.
Later, in 2008, Meade would dispatch 50 linemen and 40 pieces
of equipment to Texas to aid in Hurricane Ike’s cleanup.
Meade began a three-year maintenance contract with
Indianapolis Power and Light and opened a satellite office
there. The Infrastructure Group will maintain Indianapolis’
125,000 street lights and overhead power distribution systems.
Additionally Meade was awarded the bid for the Indiana
Department of Transportation Interstate Street Light
Maintenance contract covering nine counties. The South
Shore project implemented directional track main power
isolation using sectionalizing switches and section insulators.
Meade would also install new overhead catenary at five crossover
locations between Indiana and Illinois and show that replacing
34 miles of old, unstable catenary is possible without interrupting train schedules. The replacement runs from Gary, Indiana to
the Kensington Station.
The Engineering and Technical Services Group was awarded
several engineering contracts that were expected to lead to
design/build project opportunities. One such contract was by
Avery Dennison, BP Pipelines and Waste Management for
engineering studies to determine the amount of arc-flash energy
within the electrical power distribution systems at facilities
around the country. These studies are to enhance the electrical
safety of workers in accordance with new OSHA guidelines.
Landfill-gas-to-electric-green power plants were designed for
Wabash Valley Power Authority in Michigan City and Wyatt,
Indiana, and are expected to be just the first of many such
environmentally important projects for Meade.
23
2007
Great Lakes Naval Base is one of the Commercial and
Institutional Group’s most interesting projects. The successful
construction of the 157,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building
with a 210-foot-long replica of a guided-missile destroyer known
as Battle Stations 21 has gained international attention and is
visited by dignitaries from around the world. Every non-commissioned U.S. Navy recruit is trained at this site which simulates
a disaster at sea including special lighting, sea and diesel scents,
smoke and screams with surround audio and 90,000 gallons of
splashing water. To achieve this, virtual reality, entertainment
technology, and modern construction techniques were used.
Meade’s Business Development and Strategy Department
was created in 2007 to renew focus, awareness and emphasis
on safety, quality and performance in industrial, commercial,
pipelines, utilities, infrastructure and telecommunications.
Robert Schacht was named vice president. The department’s
purpose is to maintain, develop and expand business relationships.
24
By 2007, Meade Electric Company was well on its way to
fully developed service capabilities, including traditional
underground, overhead and cable pulling and termination crews.
The Utility Group installed two high-profile lines for Peoples
Energy: Randolph Street in Chicago’s Central Business District,
replacing a large gas main, and at North Avenue at the Chicago
River for a new bridge installation. Meade’s crews worked seven
days a week for three and a half months to complete the work
on time. Director and Vice President Frank A. Lizzadro heads
the Utility and Municipal Service Group.
At the University of Chicago, Meade installed a new utility corridor 20 feet wide and built 12 to 30 feet deep for steam, chilled
water, compressed air and conduits from the existing steam plant.
The Industrial Group, led by Vice President Rick Wachter,
continues work at the BP Whiting facility’s Canadian Crude
project. An offshoot of that project is a Pixair hydrogen plant
currently under way. Meade will perform the electrical and
instrumentation work. Meade also installed 30 miles of
underground conduit at the Exxon plant in Will County.
A design/build project for Citco in 2007 was followed by an
agreement for a major expansion project in Lemont.
The Infrastructure Group’s work on the Dan Ryan Expressway
project caused IDOT to name Meade its Contractor of the Year
in 2006. At this time, maintenance contracts continue with
Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane, McHenry and Will counties. Vice
President Mike Knutson directs this group. The Indianapolis
ITS project to monitor traffic on I-69, I-465 and I-65 from
tower-mounted cameras continues. With 135 high-mast towers
and seven radio/SCADA-based controllers powered by 450,000
feet of underground conduit and cable, the Dan Ryan
Expressway lighting and surveillance project is nearly complete.
2007
Engineering and Technical Services, headed by Vice President
and Director Charles Anderson, worked on several important
design/build projects including the designing and permitting of
an extended-stay Marriott hotel in Mettawa, Illinois, as well as a
new engineering and operations control building for the Citgo
Refinery in Lemont. Also in 2006 the group completed the
largest design/build project in Meade Electric’s history, with final
commissioning of the remaining five suburban distribution centers substation SCADA for ComEd. This project encompassed
the design, permitting, construction, start-up and testing of
SCADA systems at 407 substations.
By 2007, the Chicago Commercial Group was led by Perry
Manago. It was engaged in projects ranging from Northern
Trust’s data center in Naperville to the Hong Kong Singapore
Banking Corporation’s 580,000-square-foot headquarters in
Mettawa. Rick Mohlman established the Lake Villa Commercial
Group to handle jobs such as Key Lime Cove, a 60,000-squarefoot indoor water park with three theme restaurants and a 414room hotel in Gurnee, Illinois now underway.
This anniversary year sees the beginning of Meade’s work
on the new 1-million-square-foot Memorial Hospital of
DuPage County.
In the last 20 years, Meade has acquired a reputation for
outstanding design/build capabilities. This is highly desirable
to many client companies as they cut or disband their own
engineering departments and provides them with same-source
engineering and installation talent. Our customers with their
often-compressed schedules can rely on Meade to keep their
projects and other contractors on track. As Meade begins its
second century, the company is a centralized organization with
divisions working closely together. Its concentration on
diversification and productivity means Meade can ably and
excellently provide customers with more services.
Accommodating today’s high-tech, sophisticated world requires
an extremely high level of qualified personnel and a strong
and constant emphasis on training. A serious concern is the
prediction that 39 percent of the United States’ engineers and
construction workers will retire in the next five years, substantially
reducing the pool of experienced and skilled personnel.
Meade’s continuing loyalty and support to its work force and
unions gives an all-important edge at this time of labor shortages
in electrical contracting. To celebrate the 100-year mark, the
Meade Century Club was established to recognize outstanding
employees. In 2008, 100 employees will be chosen for their
awareness of and dedication to safety, quality and performance.
25
2008
Meade Electric Company is honored to have the third generation
of several families in its employ, adding stability, unity and
continuity to this venerable company.
As Meade enters this 100th year, the green energy trend has
changed several aspects of the business. The small distributed
generator, wind, turbine and solar units provide us with
opportunities as well as challenging grid risks. And at Meade,
hybrid vehicles are the order of the day.
For decades, Meade Electric Company workers have focused
on safety with the utmost support from their management.
Meade has established rapport with field employees and
improved training systems, even as OSHA continues to write
tighter standards. The company has taken a leadership position
with representatives on the boards and committees of several
electrical unions and associations.
Client expectations in safety and quality today are higher than
ever before. Meade is responding by spending a half a million
dollars a year on training and continuing education for its
workers. The effort has been successful. Meade is now honored
to be the United States’ safety leader in the contracting industry.
26
“As Meade Electric Company looks forward to
its next century, we take pride in being one of the
oldest specialty contractors in the nation,” states
President and CEO Frank J. Lizzadro. “We have
outlived most of the competition because of our
outstanding safety record, quality, performance,
fair dealings and innovation. We are proud of
this legacy. As the world changes, Meade will
continue to be in the forefront through leadership,
dedication, education — and the very hard work
that has brought us this far.”
SOME
MEADE
CUSTOMERS
Illinois Department of Transportation
Indianapolis Power & Light
Johnson Controls
Kajima Construction Services
Kinder Morgan
Lakehead Pipeline
Midwest Generation
Mittal Steel
Mortensen
Nicor
Northern Indiana Public Service
Company
Northern Trust Bank
Olin Corporation
Peoples Energy
Purdue University
Sargent & Lundy
St. Joseph Medical Center
State of Illinois
Stepan Chemical
Texas Eastern Pipeline
Turner Construction
United States Steel
University of Chicago
Unocal Chemical
Valparaiso University
Walsh Construction
WE Energies
Design/Build/Procurement
Electrical Construction
Electrical Maintenance
Instrumentation Systems
Outdoor Lighting Systems
Underground Electrical Maintenance
Fiber Optic Installation
LAN Writing
Voice/Data Cabling
Building Automation
Performance Contracting
Power Generation
Municipal Services
Thermography/Predictive Testing
Street Lighting/Traffic Signals
Directional Boring
Pipe Ramming
Steam and Chilled/Hot Water Piping
Transmission and Distribution
Trench Work
Large Scale Concrete Work
Pipeline Construction, Repair,
Maintenance
Hydrostatic Testing
Pressure Reducing Manhole Fabrication
Pipeline Launcher and Receiver Work
Compressor, Meter, Regulator
Installation, Maintenance
Pump Station Installation, Maintenance
Disaster Recovery Projects
2008
Acme Steel
Air Products & Chemicals
Andrew Corporation
AON Corporation
AT&T
BASF Chemical
Baxter Health Care Corporation
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Lewis University
Birmingham Steel
BP Amoco Chemical Company
BP Amoco Oil Company
BP Amoco Pipeline
BP Amoco Research Center
Caterpiller, Inc.
City of Chicago
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicap Pipeline Company
Citgo
Commonwealth Edison
Electro-Motive Division,
General Motors
Elmhurst Memorial Hospital
Enbridge
Executive Construction, Inc.
Exxon
Flint Hills
GE Plastics
Gilbane
HSBC Hong Kong
Huntsman Corporation
MEADE
SERVICES
27
PRESIDENTS
1908–1929 Thomas O. Meade
1930–1934 Vice Presidents
Joseph Lizzadro Sr. and
Edward R. Hansen headed
Meade Electric Co.
1935–1967 Edward R. Hansen
1968–1986 Edward E. Hansen
1986–1992 Kenneth E. Heinz
Thomas O. Meade
Joseph Lizzadro Sr.
Edward R. Hansen
Edward E. Hansen
Kenneth E. Heinz
Anthony D. Hirsth
Joseph Lizzadro Jr.
John S. Lizzadro Sr.
Frank J. Lizzadro
1993–2000 Anthony D. Hirsth
2001–
Frank J. Lizzadro
CHAIRMEN OF
THE BOARD
1908–1929 Thomas O. Meade
1935 –1972 Joseph Lizzadro Sr.
1972–1998 Joseph Lizzadro Jr.
1999–2000 John S. Lizzadro Sr.
2000–
Frank J. Lizzadro
2008 CENTENNIAL
DIRECTORS
Frank J. Lizzadro, chairman
John S. Lizzadro Sr.
Frank A. Lizzadro
Charles E. Anderson
Meade’s management team celebrates 100 years at Soldier Field, June 14, 2008.
From left: Rich Mohlman, Frank A. Lizzadro, Rick Wachter, Frank J. Lizzadro,
Bob Schacht, Chuck Anderson, Perry Manago, Mike Knutson and Dave Leali.
28
O U R
M I S S I O N
Meade Electric Company and its employees are committed to safety,
quality and performance that exceed our customers’ expectations.
We will achieve our mission by creating an environment of mutual trust,
respect, teamwork and a dedication to continuous improvement.
“Meade provides such a broad spectrum of
“Hands down, Meade was the best contractor on
the Battle Ship 21 project! They were on top of
all of a very high quality. I can count on “one-stop
their game at all times. I will work with Meade —
shopping with Meade.”
especially on the most complex projects I have.
Martin D. Kelly
Midwest Regional Manager of Facilities
Aon
They know how to treat a customer.”
1919
services — management, material, labor, billing —
Sheila Sheridan
Senior Project Manager
McHugh Training and Simulation
“We partner with Meade because of their integrity,
quality work, people and safety record. Meade has
“The relationship goes back to the 1960’s when
been full Target Zero — no accidents, no harm to
Meade provided maintenance for Illinois
people or the environment — for five-and-a-half
Department of Transportation’s lighting, traffic
years. They had 52,000 man hours in 2007 with no
signals and pumping systems. We built rapport
interruption. I don’t believe there is any other
and trust, for Meade performed very well at a
company that comes close to Meade’s safety
good price and high value. We like Meade because
record. And they work anywhere we need them.”
we can have minimal IDOT staff to oversee
Meade work — they get the job done and do not
Tommy Thompson
Senior Electrical Specialist
BP Pipeline NA
overcharge. IDOT especially appreciates Meade’s
safety consciousness. They have all the right
equipment and procedures for performing road
“Meade is extraordinary. My company and Meade
work safely.”
have worked together for 100 years! Meade’s
leadership team is top quality. They can provide
specific expertise in so many areas … and we
Duane Carlson, Retired
District Engineer, Metropolitan Chicago Area
Illinois Department of Transportation
count on their outstanding emergency response.”
Carl L. Segneri
Vice President Quality Services
ComEd
IBC1
O F F I C E L O C AT I O N S
HEADQUARTERS, MCCOOK
9550 West 55th Street
McCook, IL 60525
CHICAGO
5401 West Harrison Street
Chicago, IL 60610
LAKE VILLA
290 Park Avenue
Lake Villa, IL 60046
GARY
650 South Lake Street
Gary, IN 46403
MILWAUKEE
100 West Oklahoma Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53207
INDIANAPOLIS
6057 Churchman Bypass
Indianapolis, IN 46203
NAPERVILLE
30 W 751 North Aurora Road
Naperville, IL 60563
JOLIET
552 Vera Court
Joliet, IL 60436
w w w. m e a d e e l e c t r i c . c o m