Murdock Companies Celebrate 100 Years

Murdock Companies, Inc.
316-262-0401
1111 E. 1st
Wichita, KS 67214
www.mcos.com
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Murdock Companies will celebrate 100 years of operation on January 10, 2021. The organization's current President, Brenda Blazer (pictured below), shared some company highlights from the last 100 years in this Member Minute profile.

Who founded Murdock Companies, Inc.?
The organization was founded by electrician Pete Castholm on January 10, 1921. The company was originally located at the corner of Main and Murdock. What else would you name such an operation but Murdock Electric?  

What were the original products the company produced?
Pete was interested in newer technologies like V-belts, roller chain and reducers and that's why the “& Supply” was eventually added to the company name. Being a wizard at drive design, Pete was the first person to replace the rattle chain on combines with V-belts. The first demonstration of his new technology took place near Hillsboro and several hundred people came to watch. Because the machinery was so quiet during the demonstration, no one realized the combine was working until it dumped a load of grain into a waiting truck. Eventually, this conversion was installed on new combines before they left the showroom floor. Many other lines have been added over the years to compliment the emphasis on power transmission. In 1940, Pete moved the business to 800 E. Central.

When did you acquire the company?
Les Henderson bought the company in 1971. Between 1971 and the early eighties, Les acquired three companies and opened three branches, which broadened Murdock’s offerings in both product and geography. Herb Coin purchased the group of companies in October, 1985.  Murdock Companies, Inc. consisted of Murdock Electric, Murdock Industrial, Twin Power, Rubber Supply, Bearing, Rubber & Hydraulics, Murdock Supply of Hutchinson and McPherson. Herb later sold the company to me in April of 2011.

What are some of the challenges the company has overcome?
When Herb purchased the company, his dream was to combine all the Wichita branches under one roof. He accomplished this in the fall of 2001. It made things convenient for our customer’s and more efficient for operations. His dream was short-lived when a fire broke out in the building on August 4, 2004. The alarm was called in at 8:30 p.m. By 9 p.m. the local networks were breaking into programming to announce the 6-alarm fire, Wichita’s worst fire since 1984.

We never saw flames shoot so far up in the sky as we did that evening as the fire swept south from building to building. It looked pretty bleak that night. We got the word out to everyone to meet at 800 E. Central at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. It was amazing because everyone came to work that day. The Murdock spirit was not about to let the company go down. Luckily, we had many vendors and even more wonderful customers that felt the same.

The office, warehouse, inventory and records were a total loss. If it wasn’t burned, it was ruined by heat and water. Inside, everything was charred and covered in soot. Even though we had backup tapes that were located in different buildings, this was a open and shut case for taking them off premise. We did luck out when a chunk of the roof fell on top of the spot where our tapes were stored and protected them from the fire and heat. When our computer was re-built, the tapes loaded all our information into the new system and we lost only one day of transactions. What a relief!

How did you end up in your current location?
After the fire we temporarily set up shop at 800 E. Central, but we knew we we needed to relocate. We looked at many industrial parks which would have been terrible for our walk–in business. Then Herb told Marlin Penner, our real estate agent, about a building that he thought would be the perfect location, which was 1111 E. 1^St Street (the Old Lawrence Photo building). We were so fortunate to acquire this building in October, 2004.

Renovations ensued and we moved to our new home in January, 2005. This has been a remarkable building for us. We added a 50’ addition to the east for our belting, beltslitter and punch. There is easy access from Kellogg and I-135 and we enjoy plenty of parking.  In 2019 we freshened up the outside and just completed a renovation to the interior in 2020. All of that work was done in preparation for our Centennial celebration on January 10, 2021. It also set us up for success in our 2^nd century.

Please share a recent success story.
Covid-19 has been a challenge for all of us. It was frightening for us in the beginning, but now we feel there are ways to deal with it in a calm and intelligent manner. So, life goes on for Murdock and all our staff as we take care of our customers to the best of our abilities. In no way, shape or form has business been “as usual” in 2020.

It's been fun and interesting to witness the students become the teachers as they pass on their knowledge and experience to our newer employees. They do this with great passion because they know to keep our customers coming back, we have to pass along our knowledge. That experience coupled with our inventory and reliability make us the first choice for our customers.  

How is the company organized?
We have four divisions that cover a wide variety of industry needs. Murdock Electric handles the mechanical power transmission parts and components. Murdock Industrial carries a wide variety of cutting and chip removal tools along with lifting and coolant products. Twin Power covers hydraulic and pneumatic components. Rubber Supply can make conveyor belts to specified widths and lengths, industrial hose and all the products that go with them. Our three branches have all products available with many of the items in stock.

To what do you attribute your company's longevity and success?
Passion. We try to be innovative with our solutions and intelligent in the manner we use the resources of our customers and our company. We are not perfect and we have customers that point out our shortfalls on occasion. That might be hard to hear at times, but we have improved our service to our customers by listening to and implementing their suggestions whenever possible. We want Murdock to be a good place to go for solutions and for our good people.

Favorite Chamber Event?
Herb and I attended many Sunrise Scramblers. The great speakers made this our favorite event.

Would you recommend Chamber membership to a colleague?
Yes. It is nice to know the Chamber is out there fighting for smaller businesses to make sure our voices are heard.