Davey Tree Flipbooks

65 64 Growth Rings longest, continuous vegetation control operations at the time. e partnership dated to the 1940s. Another example came from Nevada, where Davey and Nevada Power enjoyed a strong relationship dating to 1959. In the Midwest, the Davey Company bought land in Dundee, Illinois, just outside Chicago to build a new office, warehouse, and shop facility to serve portions of the growing operations in the greater Chicago area. Groundbreaking for the new facility took place in June 1980, and the office was described in an August 1980 Bulletin feature as "the culmination of Davey Tree's progressive expansion program […]. e building of the new facility demonstrates the company's positive attitude toward the future." About 160 field employees would work out of the new space. In October 1980 the overall health of the company's finances led management to recommend that the company exercise its option to buy the 62,870 shares owned by M.L. Davey, Jr., certain family members, and certain family trusts that had exercised their rights to exclude a portion of their shares from the sale. e recommendation came much earlier than many anticipated, as few believed the company would be in such a favorable financial position so soon after the employee acquisition. Although Brub was reluctant to sell his shares given the tremendous success the employees were already seeing, he ultimately agreed. By buying him out, the employees realized substantial savings, as the stock value would only continue to rise. And still, Brub was rewarded for putting his faith in both the company and the employees. e purchase price was determined to be $32.24 per share for Brub's 56,583 shares, which amounted to approximately $1.8 million total. Brub Davey retired as chairman three years later, in May 1983. He'd spent 42 years involved in the company in various capacities, including serving as president from 1946 to 1962. Without his participation in the employee acquisition the Davey Company might have faded into history. About a month after the company bought out Brub Davey's remaining shares, his uncle, Paul H. Davey, Sr., son of John Davey and brother to M. L. Davey, Sr., died in December 1980 of congestive heart failure. Paul Davey, a longtime resident of Kent, Ohio, helped introduce mechanization to Davey Tree – increasing efficiency and profits – as founder of the Davey Compressor Company. e Yale graduate held 31 U.S. patents, 25 Canadian patents and various others in foreign countries. Most represented basic improvements in the field of compressed air equipment and in the care of trees. e Rise of Davey Canada e steady longevity of e Davey Tree Expert Company of Canada, Ltd., proved essential to the Davey Company's success. Davey had been operating on estates in Canada for years prior to the official incorporation, although the earliest work had commonly been performed by employees crossing the border from the south. Expansion of the homegrown Canadian company fully engaged following the Great Depression, when the U.S. and Canada limited migration to prevent their unemploy- ment rates from increasing further. It was on Nov. 5, 1930, that the Canadian government issued letters of patents, and e Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada, Ltd., was chartered. e first perma- nent office in Toronto opened at 57 Bloor Street, and full-time sales staff members were appointed for Toronto and London. Personnel moved between Montreal and Toronto to manage their workload. e first line clearing crews were fielded in the St. Catherine's area to work for Ontario Hydro in the London and Niagara area. roughout its history, Canadian operations cared for numerous lucrative and high-profile properties. Among them has been the National Capital Commission, which manages all federal land spanning tens of thousands of acres in the Ottawa area. ese prestigious public spaces include a variety of parks, like Gatineau Park at the confluence of the Gatineau and Ottawa rivers, that welcome millions of visitors each year. Blaire Sayers, retired vice president and general manager, Davey Canada, recalled in a 2017 interview that the first trees fertilized in Canada with Arbor Green were trees transplanted for the National Capital Commission. "e commission wanted us to transplant some 12-inch and 14-inch ash trees, about 20 of them, late in the season, and we took it on," Sayers said. "It went very well. We had the luck of decent weather and of course left a lot of straw on top of everything at night, with snow piled up on top, so frost didn't get into the ground. […] We got them all in, and they all lived." Davey Canada's Kitchener, Ontario, office also had the responsibility of caring for the oldest living elm tree in the Ontario province. e tree, protected and cared for by the Dundas Heritage Society in the city of Dundas, received a pruning and herbicide treatment to protect it from Dutch elm disease, which had ravaged the area. Chapter 4 In 1980 the Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada, Limited, celebrated its 50th anniversary by stamping these medallions. A year after its golden anniversary, Davey Canada's Kitchener, Ontario, office cared for the famed Dundas Elm tree, then the oldest living elm tree in the Ontario province. Photo courtesy of the Dundas Museum & Archives. e iconic city hall of Toronto, where Davey's Canadian operations were first incorporated in 1930. e city of Toronto remains an important market for Davey Canada's residential services. Toronto's landmark city hall complex opened in 1965.

• Cover