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CRCA History
The Chicago Roofing Contractors Association, (CRCA) was
born of Fire. Chicago is the birthplace of the first Roofing
Contractor Association in the US dating back to the 1870’s
and the Great Chicago Fire….CRCA. The Great fire
of 1871 was a devastating loss of property and life. And,
after the fire there was a great shortage of labor and
equipment to rebuild the great city of Chicago.
Moses W. (M.W.) Powell owned a roofing company in Chicago,
and prior to the formation of the association, heard
of men who claimed to work for him falsely. Once these
individuals had the customer’s money, they would
apply inferior products, and never return when leaks
and trouble started on roofs. It was then that Mr. Powell
statedt that his customers should “Know your Roofing
Contractor”. He also thought that an industry
association might be needed to help address this customer
protection and many other industry problems.
Additionally, after the 1871 fire devastation, there
were simply not enough resources at any single contracting
firm to handle the onslaught of work needed to rebuild
the roofs of Chicago. M.W. Powell and others with the
same high quality standards for their firms, decided
to help the community rebuild quickly. Mr. Powell organized
his fellow contractors of like mind, pooling their manpower
resources, equipment and materials to meet the demand
for reconstructing Chicago. It was this event plus the
need for quality firms to set themselves apart that
fueled the birth and set a solid foundation for CRCA
as we know it today.
As the demand for roofing after the Chicago Fire waned,
the CRCA’s key driving purpose changed to “impose
a standard of quality and performance upon the roofing
laborer and to keep ineffective roofing systems out
of the marketplace”. Through the early 1900’s
CRCA grew from just a few firms to many servicing the
Industrial, Educational, Commercial and Industrial growth
of Chicagoland. Further purposes of the Association
included:
- Elimination of Unscrupulous and Below Standard Contractors
- Training and Education of Roofing Crews
- Organization and Dissemination of up to date Technical
Material for the Roofing Contractor.
- Communication between roofing contractors and other
construction and design professionals.
The M.W. Powell Company is still in business today,
run by his family, like many other CRCA Member roofing
contractor firms in Chicago. The many firms that made
up CRCA then had many of the same goals as today.
In the new Century, CRCA has developed a new mission,
new purposes, with different people many new contracting
firms, some related to the original founding members
of CRCA.
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