Reflecting on job number 61-001

Job number 61-001 changed everything. It was sold in 1961, a year of change for the nation and for Star.

By January, John F. Kennedy would be president. By the end of the year, Star would launch a historic shift in our product and our distribution, a shift still active today.

The job was for A Welders Supply in Oklahoma City. It marked Star’s transition from sectional steel buildings to solid web rigid frame buildings, a change 34 years in the making. Launched in 1927, Star had originally been D.H. Rowland’s answer to the oil industry’s building needs.

Oil derricks were everywhere then. Black gold seeped from the ground in waves. Economic growth in Oklahoma City came in gushes, in geysers, in fountains of pure crude. And each of those derricks needed a cover for their engine and at least one tool shed on site.

That’s how the doghouses – what they became known as – came to be. They were small metal sheds designed from angle and galvanized corrugated steel, standard sized, pre-engineered, and perfect for their use. Then, as the industry changed, so did the buildings needed. Their size had to grow with the industry, and so it did.

By the 1960s, however, the oil boom had lulled into a minor rumble. Star needed to change. From the product to the distribution system, it was time for a major growing pain. That’s what happened in 1961 with job number 61-001. The building still stands today.

From that point on, an entirely new Star has evolved. The sectional steel building materials sold at Star are now the newest technology of solid web rigid frame building materials. And, what had once been a sales/agent distribution approach has now welcomed an authorized builder/agent distribution.

The Star of today is a unique combination of decades-long insight, cutting-edge builder systems, and buildings that are both practical and beautiful. 

Read more on the Starbuildings blog. 

Editor's note: This is sponsored content. The text and image were provided by the sponsor company.