Growing into the firm we are today took persistence and perseverance. We’ve weathered recessions, expansions and contractions, and the adoption of new technologies and processes. Navigating these turns can be a challenge. There is no doubt that running a business for 75 years takes resolve and commitment. Our path shows that resolve.
Take a scroll through our history to observe some of the influential moments along our path.
Our Origins
John Morrison and Joe Maierle met while working for the Montana Highway Department in the 1930s. At the time, Montana lacked interstates, bridges, and the modern-day transportation conveniences we enjoy today. In many parts of the state, transportation infrastructure was nothing more than single-lane, dirt roads.
Recognizing that the state would modernize in the wake of WWII and correctly diagnosing the jobs that would come with infrastructure investment, John and Joe connected over a common goal: Create projects that improve the state’s infrastructure. So, they put their passion to the test, and in 1945 built a start-up engineering business in John’s home in Helena, Montana.
Their instinct proved correct. Infrastructure funding supported dozens of projects benefitting communities and facilitating commerce. Montana, like much of the rest of the country, was growing, and needed engineering solutions to support that growth.
Early Growth
By the late 1950’s, Morrison-Maierle employed nearly 60 people, had started a second office in Billings, Montana and served four distinct markets: highways, sanitation, structural engineering, and streets and airports.
Strong growth followed in the coming decades.
Morrison-Maierle first entered the Engineering News Record “Top 500” Engineering company ratings in 1965, coming in at spot #296. We opened an office in Bozeman in 1967 and a few years later, 1972, in Kalispell. Additional offices were opened in Great Falls, Missoula, Gillette, Spokane, Cody, Sheridan, Casper, and Redmond Oregon in the following decades.
As we continued to serve an expanding client base in Montana, our work gained international attention as engineers branched out into other countries. Vietnam, Zaire, Lethoso, Mauritania—all were visited by Morrison-Maierle teams to support community development projects.
Recognizing the importance computerization would play in the engineering industry, we formed Morrison-Maierle Systems Corporation in the early 1980’s to facilitate the technological transition of the firm. Systems remains a subsidiary of Morrison-Maierle to this day and provides award-winning service to dozens of clients.
Employee-Ownership
Ownership of the firm was initially vested in the Morrison and Maierle families. But that began to change in the 1970s as Morrison-Maierle leadership implemented an employee stock sale-purchase to become an employee held corporation. Just over two decades later, in 1994, we began our transition to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) organization. In 2017, we completed the conversion to 100% ESOP, which remains in place to this day.
We value our employee-ownership culture. It motivates us to care for the company as if it were ours—because it is. Our ownership culture is central to ensuring our long-term success.
Morrison-Maierle Today
Morrison-Maierle has grown to serve multiple market sectors and offer dozens of engineering and technical services. We are proud to provide hundreds of good-paying jobs across our 12 offices within Montana, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon.
John and Joe shared a strong desire to serve others, which is one of the reasons they worked so well together and why our client-centered approach is still relevant. The foundation they laid—through their actions, words, and deeds—influences the direction of the company to this day. We insist on acting with integrity. We are committed to the work, and to the success of projects and clients. We respect people, and we focus on excellence. These are more than just core values—they are guideposts to our work.
John's son, John Jr., who followed in his father's footsteps as an engineer and eventual president of the company, said: “When they went into business together in 1946, they had a partnership that many of us envy. I don’t think that they ever had an argument, understood what they needed to do to be successful—a good staff and a genuine concern for clients—and the ability to agree upon and set a course of action for the firm.”
