A Division of Contractors Material Co., Inc. Flowood, Mississippi
In 1937, after some thirteen years on the road as a traveling salesman for a Birmingham cement firm, Wesley A. "Cotton" Caldwell saw a need and opportunity in Jackson, Mississippi. He founded Contractors Material Co. to furnish condtruction supplies and, particularly, fabricated reinforcing steel. As the area grew in the 1950's, the company purchased Industrial Suppliers in Flowood, Mississippi, then Cotton led the construction of Mississippi's first steel mill and helped further develop the Flowood industrial area. In the 1960's, Cotton Caldwell, Jr. took over as President of Mississippi Steel and Magna Corporation, which brought an Ohio manufacturer of garden tillers to Raymond, Mississippi, and also produced the Amphicat there. Cotton Sr. passed away in 1982, leaving the firm in the able hands of his younger son John H. Caldwell. John, an engineering graduate of Mississippi State, led the company until his recent passing. Industrial Suppliers has been continuously operated by the family since 1954.