G. Fox

The Pacific Telephone project was certainly not the norm. If there is any such thing as a “normal” construction project? And with that said, my memory serves up the story of the G. Fox Department Store in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Our boss, Marshall, had received a request to bid on the construction of a new department store for the May Co. The store was to be the flagship store of a New England department store chain they had recently purchased.

After figuring in all sorts of additional costs; air transportation, moving and housing, vehicle rentals, etc, etc; the bid was prepared and surprise! We had a job in Connecticut. I was asked if I wanted to go and I quickly agreed.

Before making the trip, we had to prepare boxes of equipment to ship. Power cords, screw guns and welders. All of these things were packed into wooden boxes and sent off.

(It should be noted that we wouldn’t think of doing that today. We would have bought all of our equipment locally.)

Soon it was time for us to pack our suitcases and take a long non-stop flight to Hartford. And once a month we would take that same flight as we returned home for a long weekend.

I remember that we flew on American Airlines, a luxurious 727. The plane rarely had more than 50 passengers and I remember a time when there were less than 20 people on a plane that held over 100.  

After arriving in Waterbury, we found a motel to stay in and then went to check in with the local Carpenters Union. This was an eye-opener. We had never seen a Union like this one! The local office was run by a Business Agent named “Eddie”. And he ran it like it was his own personal kingdom. I suppose it was.

We knew we were in some trouble when we asked him if he had some men available that were skilled in drywall and metal framing. He looked at us and didn’t say a word for a minute. Then he slowly stated, “My men can do anything.” Oh?

We asked for three men to start with, and with the knowledge that the first man hired would become the “Steward” and would be the last man fired. And when they arrived at the jobsite the next morning, our Steward turned out to be a 65 year old Millwright. The other two carpenters were just that…carpenters. None of the three had ever seen a metal stud or installed drywall. It was going to be a long job!