The beginning was not auspicious. It was August 1945. Joe Corrado decided to start a new business. He and his brother planned to do landscaping for Wilmington’s upscale Westover Hills neighborhood. They operated from the kitchen table in Joe’s home, and their startup equipment consisted of a pickup truck, some picks, and a few shovels. As the business expanded and they ventured into new endeavors, Joe hired employees to assist him. The payroll totaled less than $500 each week for a staff of ten, and Joe usually just brought the entire week’s payroll to the office in the pocket of his work pants. Laborers earned about 40 cents per hour, and equipment operators were paid about $1.40 hourly.

In those early days, following closely on the heels of World War II, countless other entrepreneurs set out along a similar path. Men and women returned from “over there” and invested their time, energy, and resources to establish companies throughout the Delaware-area as peacetime prosperity was restored. There were many men like Joe Corrado, who climbed onto a piece of heavy equipment, determined to forge a new path. But Joe’s turned out to be a different kind of story.

Joe Corrado was never content to ride along. Instead he drove his bulldozer to the top of the mountain. Ultimately, he sat as chairman of the board of Corrado American Inc., one of the largest site-development contracting companies in the tri-state area comprising Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Even at age 80+, he continued to turn up in the office each day—not just to sit and reminisce, but to run the business in much the way he always had: with 150% commitment to excellence in everything the company undertakes, and with loving attention to its 500+ employees. The lone pickup truck Joe started with in 1945 has given way to more than 200 pieces of heavy equipment. The kitchen table that was their original workspace has metamorphosed into a two-story, 16,000 square-foot office building in burgeoning New Castle. Corrado American has played an integral role in the development of Delaware, and in many ways its story echoes the growth of the region.

When the kitchen table threatened to collapse beneath the weight of new business plans, the Corrados moved their operations to a small office behind their machine repair shop at 2400 West Fourth Street on Wilmington’s west side. Those close quarters remained the business headquarters for almost 35 years. In 1980, Corrado American moved to its present location at 200 Marsh Lane in New Castle, where the office building is augmented by a machine shop, a warehouse, and a storage yard for heavy equipment. Joe Corrado’s first piece of heavy equipment was a Caterpillar D2 bulldozer. He ordered the equipment without any idea how to operate it. The sales man who delivered the bulldozer quickly showed Joe how to pull the rope to turn the engine over, and then departed, never to be seen again. Joe spent the next three days nursing an extremely sore shoulder worn out from his ripping the cord repeatedly to revive the bulldozer’s stalled engine. That first bulldozer was just an inkling of the dump trucks, rollers and backhoes that would become part of the Corrado fleet. The company now owns virtually every piece of dirt-moving equipment manufactured today, including some of Caterpillar’s largest machines.

Joe Corrado was the first to acknowledge that the success of Corrado American reflects the hard work of countless people, past and present. Among the most important contributors are his two sons, Joseph J. Corrado and Frank Corrado. Frank has assumed primary responsibility for field operations, supervising employees who work on site development projects including excavating, installing underground utilities, paving and curbing. Joseph J. has concentrated on administrative responsibilities, marketing the company’s services and development related businesses. The concerted efforts of father and sons has expanded the Corrados’ business group, which have included asphalt-batching plants, stone depots, cement plants, and two manufactured housing communities. The Corrados have formed partnerships with numerous other enterprises throughout Delaware to operate these businesses, always with a firm commitment to producing their own materials and strengthening the site development business that remains the cornerstone of their operations. In 1999, Joe Corrado’s grandson, Joseph J. Corrado Jr., completed his college degree in construction management and joined the company. Soon after, in 2001, Jaime Corrado-Kopp, having graduated from Muhlenberg College with a degree in Human Resources Management, came aboard. She currently serves as Office Manager and Director of Human Resources. They plan to follow in the footsteps of their grandfather, their fathers, and their uncles -- and they hope to have a hand in guiding Corrado American during the new millennium.

Corrado American, Inc. has left an indelible mark throughout Delaware. On major construction projects from Claymont to Selbyville, it’s likely that Corrado employees are among the first and last on the scene—excavating the foundation for a new building, shaping the site, and putting the finishing touches on the sidewalks, curbs and parking lots surrounding it. The company’s painstaking work shines brilliantly in the area, including the Brandywine Town Center, the Christiana Mall, the General Motors Boxwood Road Plant, the Texaco Refinery, the Port of Wilmington, and the Medical Center of Delaware. The history of Corrado American, Inc. is, ultimately, a micro-history of the state of Delaware. Just as Joe Corrado’s small landscaping jobs led to major construction projects, quiet, rural Delaware has become a thriving state with busy metropolitan centers. Neither Corrado American nor Delaware has ever lost sight of the roots that keep it grounded, even as it grows.

Although Corrado American, Inc., long ago set its sights beyond small landscaping projects in Westover Hills, the company and the family that leads it have never wavered from the dedication that paved the way for its success. For over 60 years the guiding philosophy has always remained clear: completing the job on time (no matter how tight the schedule), delivering a superior product, operating safely every day, and remaining mindful of the well being of all employees. All of the individuals who are part of Corrado American, Inc—and thereby part of Joe Corrado’s family—look forward to climbing on a bulldozer and moving the company forward, mission intact, into the 21st century.