Archives: Timeline Stories

In 1928 Joseph J. Henderson and brother-in-law Guy Lund, started a successful residential construction company, Henderson & Lund. All was going well until the Great Depression ground construction to a halt. The business did survive and, once the Depression eased, work was again plentiful until World War II. Guy...

Following WWII, the company, now named Joseph J. Henderson General Contractor, began adding more commercial work and Don Henderson joined the company. Throughout the 1950’s JJH remained primarily a residential contractor and focused on building relationships to spur growth. In 1956 the company name was changed to Joseph J....

In 1964, Don Henderson purchased two vacant, adjacent buildings on Grand Avenue in Gurnee and combined them into one. The buildings date back to the late 1800’s, having been a feed & seed store, a general store, post office, sheet metal company and cleaning company. After some remodeling, JJH...

In 1971, Don took over as president and JJH began building a significant amount of commercial work, including the first of many Abbott Laboratories jobs and its first million-dollar contract, Citizens National Bank in Waukegan. No one had more of an impact on the growth, stability, or philosophy of...

In the 1980’s the third generation of Henderson’s joined JJH, Michael in 1981 and David in 1988. During this time JJH started undertaking water and wastewater treatment plant work which continues to be a mainstay for the company today.

When Don retired in 1994, Mike took over as president and David became vice president.

In 2005, Mike retired and David was promoted to President. “Moving forward we will continue to improve our skills and performance and uphold the principles that JJH was founded on: Quality, Fairness, Honesty and Excellent Customer Service.” -David A. Henderson, President

Sam Henderson joined JJH full time in 2013 after graduating from University of Montana with his bachelors degree in engineering.  Sam is the fourth generation of Hendersons, continuing the family tradition.

One of JJH’s greatest assets is its ability to handle the growth of the company and still maintain the company’s value system: Striving to insure that its employees treat everyone with the same commitment of fairness, honesty and respect one would expect in a close-knit family. Many positive client...