Chairman’s Message: Once Upon a Time at MCAA

Words: Dick Dentinger

Our association has grown through the last seventy-five years into a bold and powerful asset for mason contractors and the masonry industry as a whole. It’s quite remarkable to have lasted three quarters of a century. MCAA will be celebrating our 75th in September at The Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, Michigan. This venue is a fitting location for us, since the very first MCAA meeting was held at The Grand Hotel in 1950. If you have not yet been to this exquisite upper-midwestern resort, you don’t want to miss it. The Grand Hotel and Mackinac Island are beautifully and intentionally locked back in time from an era long ago past. The Island doesn’t allow motor vehicles. Instead, they use horse and buggy, and bicycles for transport. I guess it’s sort of the UBER option from back in the day. As a result, while you are escaping to Mackinaw Island it feels as though you are traveling back in time while surrounded by the sounds of seagulls, ships, and the fresh smell of the breeze from the Great Lakes.

We will all have the chance to reflect on and recognize the 75 years in which past generations have helped to shape, guide, and blossom MCAA from an ambitious idea by a handful of mason contractors into the dynamic and impactful national association it has become today. Think of the era of 1950 and what that small group of mason contractors were experiencing at that time. In 1950 they were challenged to keep pace with the post-world war expansion as people embraced the ability to afford cars, to travel and buy homes. Roads, suburbs, and cities were booming and the masonry industry had to keep pace. The contractors who were involved in our industry at the time were enjoying Sinatra, and the “Rat Pack”, and driving big and ornately colorful cars. They likely had one awkwardly large 14” tube television set in the family room where they would watch “I Love Lucy” or some other popular show. They were even more blessed because they had not one, not two, but THREE networks to choose from when they turned on the set to watch before the stations ended their broadcast and signed off for the night. The hit music of the era came from the likes of Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Elvis Presley and Nat King Cole.

Once upon a time, in 1950, the era was surely different at MCAA. The world has changed at a mind-boggling rate over the years. Still, those contractors had similar issues to those we face today. They struggled with financing, labor and workforce, traditional contracting and business anxieties we face. Thankfully, these founders of MCAA recognized the value in forming a national association to assist the industry as a whole and protect contractor interests. These stewards of masonry squeezed in their time, talent, and treasure to take on the volunteer tasks of designing the MCAA to work as a partner to all its members. Initially the focus was on labor relations and contractual assistance, but also on networking and sharing knowledge of successful practices and procedures.

The history of MCAA is pretty darn cool if you ask me. Especially when you think about how difficult it often is these days to get people to take the time to participate in local, regional or national efforts. Consider how challenging it must have been for contractors from the east coast, the Midwest and elsewhere as they tried to communicate and organize a fledgling MCAA without email, Zoom Meetings or cellphones. Thankfully that group in 1950 signed up to do the heavy lifting. Each decade that passed produced a new group of volunteers from contractors to suppliers and professionals within our masonry industry to accept the torch each time they were asked to volunteer. They took their turn to carry MCAA forward into whatever headwinds were coming.

Over nearly eight decades that followed, contractor factions from all over the country took their turns at being the driving forces. MCAA quickly adapted its strategies to tackle concerns of those in open shop markets rather than just union markets which dramatically broadened our reach. We also began focusing on having a voice in technical and specification groups, and training and workforce goals. Early on strong contractors from local and regional mason contractor associations on the East Coast, Chicago, Milwaukee and Missouri and Michigan who initiated MCAA’s footprint. Quickly, more areas of the country joined the effort and created a true national influence. Soon, North Carolina, Texas and California made their mark in MCAA’s strategies and growth. Other markets such as Washington State, Oregon, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida to name a few, rounded out a truly broad reach of influence which has ensured MCAA can guide and protect mason contractors and the industry on all fronts.

Now, three-quarters of a century later, we are still thriving and still growing. MCAA has a remarkable history which we are all a part of, and we plan on celebrating our 75th Anniversary by going back to where it all began – The Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island this September. I hope all MCAA members, past and present, come to celebrate and share your stories of once upon a time at MCAA.

Chairman’s Message: Once Upon a Time at MCAA

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