Everyday we drive our cars down miles of guardrail-lined roadways. We stop at intersections where traffic is controlled by the ceaseless changing of signal lights. We depend on road signs to help us get to our desired destination. All the while, most of us probably take these traffic safety systems for granted. At the James H. Drew Company, traffic safety systems form the basis of our business.

The James H. Drew Corporation was incorporated in 1947 in Indianapolis, where it still maintains its headquarters. But the company traces its beginnings back to 1931, when James H. Drew established the company. Back then, the primary service was installing and maintaining the overhead electrical systems used by streetcar transit systems.

With the decline of the streetcar, the company branched into other areas. During World War II, the company installed fencing around defense industry plants all across the country. After the war, the company capitalized on the rural electrification projects financed by the federal government. The company strung lines and set electrical poles throughout Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri. In 1946, the Sedalia, Missouri office was opened.

The advent of the interstate highway system provided additional opportunities as the company got into the guardrail business in a big way. Throughout the 1950s, the company built and installed guardrail and fence on the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana toll roads. During the 1960s, the Drew Company grew to be the leader and dominant force in the guardrail and fence business for the development of the federal interstate highway systems throughout the states of Missouri and Indiana.

Also during the 1960s, the Drew Company expanded its services by adding sign installation, concentrating then on the Indiana and Missouri markets. In the 1970s, Drew management created new division within the company to more accurately track the performance of various business segments. Today the Drew Company manages its business by product lines which include Guardrail/Fence, Lighting and Traffic Technologies, and Structural Steel.