Historical Timeline
MDU Construction Services Group got its start in 1997, but many of our companies have history going back decades. This historical timeline features milestones and noteworthy projects from our entire family of companies.
1917
Wagner-Smith Equipment Co., as it is known today, got its start in 1917 as The Charles M. Kelso Company.
1924
MDU Construction Services Group’s parent company was founded in 1924 as a small electric utility serving a handful of farm communities on the border of Montana and North Dakota.
1935
Major league baseball played its first night game at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. Wagner-Smith, today an MDU Construction Services Group company known as Wagner Industrial Electric, installed the stadium lights. President Franklin Roosevelt flipped the switch to turn on the lights by remote from the White House. The Reds, then called the Redlegs, played the Chicago Cubs. The Reds won 2-1.
1947
Oregon Electric Group, now known as OEG, Inc., in Portland, Oregon, is founded. Today, it is one of the largest electrical contracting companies in the Northwest.
1957
Loy Clark Pipeline Co. is founded. It was the first pipeline construction company in Oregon and had just 12 employees. Capital Electric Construction Co. is also founded in 1957 in Kansas City, Missouri.
1966
E.S.I., Inc., is founded in Ohio.
1967
Capital Electric Line Builders in Riverside, Missouri, is founded.
1974
Bell Electrical Contractors in St. Louis is founded.
1980
Desert Fire Protection is founded in Las Vegas.
1982
Bombard Electric is founded in Las Vegas.
1983
International Line Builders in Portland is founded. Today, the company has locations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California.
1985
Our parent company realigns and changes its name to MDU Resources Group.
1997
MDU Resources Group forms a new construction services division, today known as MDU Construction Services Group, with the acquisition of two electric services companies in Portland, Oregon.
2001
Capital Electric, Bell Electrical and OEG join MDU Construction Services Group.
2002
Bombard Mechanical is founded in Las Vegas.
2005
The company enters the Las Vegas market with the acquisition of Bombard Electric and Bombard Mechanical.
2006
Wagner Industrial Electric, Inc. is formed in May 2006 by merging the industrial electric divisions of two long-standing electrical contractors, Capital Electric Construction Company in Kansas City, Missouri, and The Wagner-Smith Company in Dayton, Ohio.
2007
MDU Construction Services Group acquires Lone Mountain Excavation & Utilities in Las Vegas.
2009
Capital Electric Construction keeps the lights on for the Chiefs, doing the Arrowhead Stadium renovation in Kansas City, Missouri.
2012
Bombard Renewable Energy is named the 13th largest solar contractor in the country, according to Solar Power World’s Top 100 list.
2013
MDU Construction Services Group is ranked No. 11 on the Top 600 specialty contractors list in the United States.
2014
Capital Electric Line Builders completes the biggest transmission line construction project in MDU Construction Services Group history: a 345-kV, double-circuit line stretching 108 miles from Wichita to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, and on to an interconnection point at the Oklahoma border.
MDU Construction Services Group moves up to No. 10 on ENR’s Top 600 Specialty Contractors list.
Several MDU Construction Services Group companies in Las Vegas take part in the construction of the LINQ entertainment district, including the High Roller, the tallest observation wheel in the world.
2015
MDU Construction Services Group ranks No. 8 on ENR’s Top 600 Specialty Contractors list.
2017
Bombard Renewable Energy, a division of Bombard Electric LLC, ranks 26th out of 500 solar companies in the U.S., per Solar Power World magazine.
MDU Construction Services Group ranks No. 13 on ENR’s Top 600 Specialty Contractors list.
2018
MDU Construction Services Group ranks No. 11 on ENR’s Top 600 Specialty Contractors list.
2019
MDU Resources Group acquires the assets of Pride Electric in Redmond, Washington.
Our parent company, circa 1930s
Loy Clark