“Super rare” is how Jonathan Morgan described a 100-year-old, four-generation business.
He’s president of B.D. Morgan, a commercial and industrial construction, contracting and engineering services company based in Middletown.
B.D. Morgan was founded by his grandfather, Ben Donald “B.D.” Morgan, when he operated the business out of his Middletown home. Since then Jonathan’s father, David Morgan, his uncle, Charles Morgan, and his son, Ben Morgan, all have worked for the company.
The company has moved from Morgan’s home to a building on Charles Street to University Boulevard in the mid-1950s to its current site on Hook Drive.
“It’s hard to believe,” Jonathan Morgan, 54, said. “Just the legacy.”
A chain in the Morgan legacy nearly was broken when Ben Morgan, 26, the fourth in his family to graduate from Ohio State University, was majoring in aerospace engineering and not civil engineering as his great-grandfather, grandfather and father.
“It nearly died with me,” Jonathan Morgan said of the family-owned business.
But after Ben Morgan’s sophomore year at OSU, unable to receive a summer internship in his major, he served his internship at B.D. Morgan.
And he was hooked.
After graduating from OSU in 2020 with a degree in civil engineering, Ben Morgan joined the company and serves as vice president.
Jonathan Morgan said all of the Morgan men earned civil engineering degrees because “our brains are tuned like that, a little nerdy.”
Providing quality customer service has been a staple of the business since it was founded, Morgan said. But after COVID-19, when customer service “became a lost quality” for some businesses, it was even more important at B.D. Morgan.
“You have to call people right back,” he said when asked about the company’s business philosophy. “Do what you say and be as honest as you can be.”
He said B.D. Morgan depends heavily on repeat business what he estimated at 95%
The company sees the project through from beginning to end — from soil testing, surveying, clearing of the land and excavating, engineering and design, to the drafting of plans, construction, setting of machinery, interior design, landscaping and maintenance, he said.
Rick Pearce, president of the Chamber of Commerce serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton, congratulated the company on what he called “a historic milestone” of 100 years in business.
“It is very rare that a family business celebrates that many years,” he said. “Many of the businesses in Middletown have worked with B.D. Morgan from simple modifications to major add-ons and building renovations.”
B.D. MORGAN FAMILY HISTORY
B.D. Morgan, a commercial and industrial construction, contracting and engineering services company based in Middletown,, was founded by Ben Donald “B.D.” Morgan in 1923.
His sons, David Morgan and Charles Morgan, eventually took over the business.
His grandson, Jonathan Ben Morgan, joined the firm in 1991 and was named president in 1996.
His great-grandson, Ben David Morgan, was hired full-time in 2020 and serves as vice president.
PHONE NUMBER: 513-423-9494
WEBSITE: www.bdmorganco.com
EMAIL: bdm@bdmorganco.com
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