A Pittsburgh Tradition…
Frank Bryan Concrete Factory is a landmark in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. Originally constructed in 1924, the factory has been interwoven in the blue collar fabric of our city.
The factory has been a key component to building the foundations from the very beginning. Having a concrete factory in such close proximity to the downtown area has enabled us to supply many of the major projects with a very limited number of trucks. Cycle times and the overall quality of the concrete are drastically improved.
Brand
The importance of this location is not only our business but for the greater good of the city by providing local high quality materials. Our history here has enabled us to begin the process of integrating our factory into the community. Even though we’ve been here since the 20s, most people don’t know who we are or what we do.
We wanted bring our brand of a family company rooted in Pittsburgh to the forefront of the operation. We don’t need billboards or commercials when we have this amazing factory to design. The design process began with a call to Colin Miller, an incredibly talented design artist. Colin spent weeks developing an amazing design and mural package for our factory. The brand is rooted in Pittsburgh, hard working and true to who we are as a family.
Anthony Purcell jumped on board and began bringing everything to life. The attention to detail, size and scale of the murals are something to see. More to come.
Then we met Dan Rugh from Commonweath Press. These guys took our story, our brand and ran away with it. It started with beautiful hand made merchandise, beer barge invitations and now some awesome ideas coming down the pipeline.
The best part about this process has been meeting great people that share a passionate love for our city. It’s a love for the re-birth around town but more importantly, a love for that blue collar fabric that forged us all.
History
The plant was construction by Keystone Sand & Supply a division of Dravo Corporation. The plant was a key location to supply concrete to downtown Pittsburgh. Ready-mixed concrete delivered in mixer trucks made its debut from this plant in 1927 when Keystone became one of the first companies east of the Rocky Mountains to use this method of delivering concrete.
In 1962 Dravo Corporation made major improvements to the plant through a fully-automated batching system as well as additional storage and production capacity. Interior, heated bins allow the plant to run through the winter while maintaining quality concrete production.
Dravo Corporation started in 1891 only 8 years after Frank Bryan started our family business. Since the beginning we were loyal customers of Dravo buying raw materials for our concrete plant in McKees Rocks. Over the decades we forged a very strong relationship through honesty and hard work. In 1980 we were afforded the opportunity to take over their South Side Pittsburgh plant, the largest and most technical plants in the region.
We jumped in running, supplying some of the major projects in the area from this location. Production capacity and technical ability were our strengths and the efficiencies this plant brought cannot be understated.
The concrete factory has a rich history in this city. It produced concrete through the Great Depression, through World War II and decade after decade it remains a fixture of Pittsburgh construction.