Morrison Inc Celebrates 60 Years In Marietta

MARIETTA, OH — If you live in the Marietta area you’ve probably been affected by Morrison Inc in more ways than you know. For those of you who don't know the name off the top of your head, Morrison Inc is a Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration company that's celebrating 60-years in Marietta. There's a good chance the system that's keeping you comfy right now was installed by, or worked on by them.

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This business is a true Marietta success story. It was started by Harley Morrison in 1960, who took on a partner, Edwin Haas, in 1961. They officially filed articles of incorporation on June 1, 1961 and since then it's been busy busy busy.

Even though Harley and Edwin are gone, their families keep the spirit of Morrison Inc alive. Harley's son Ken Morrison and Edwin’s son David Haas are now the partners who run the show. Ken is the senior vice president and David is the president and general manager. David wasn’t always a big shot in the company though. “When I was 12-13 I was pushing a mop and washing trucks.” For about 8 years, the now president of Morrison Inc was an installer. “So I was the guy on the ground getting ‘er done.” He says through the years, he and his partner Ken have basically worked in every part of the company. Ken has been with the company since 1978 and David has been there since 1986.

Their families are also wrapped up in the business, David says they’re now onto the third generations of Haas’ and Morrisons running Morrison Inc. “Ken has a stepson Chase Hughes who started about 10-years ago. He now handles the commercial department.” David’s daughter is about to graduate from Marietta College. “With a business degree. So she’s coming in to operate HR and all that.”

The business originated at 211 Greene Street, near where the Locker Room is. Now they’re situated at 410 Colegate Drive, down the road from the community college. For the first 30-years or so they had a showroom setup where they actually sold large appliances like washing machines and dishwashers. Ken and David decided in 1992 to drop that aspect of the business and focus on HVAC.

The company now employs about 50 people, 45 of which are full-time. They have 30 technical employees and 15 people working in sales and administrative positions.

They handle HVAC jobs large and small. They do house calls, they’ve also constructed and expanded projects at places like Peoples Bank, Marietta Memorial Hospital, and many other large regional facilities.

David says they aren’t looking to expand as they have their hands full right here. They do service customers about 50-miles in each direction of Marietta. “Geographically we go as far west as Athens, as far south as Ravenswood/Ripley, as far east as Pennsboro, and as far North as Matamoras/Sardis.” He says they also have some big customers in New Martinsville, Cambridge, and Zanesville.

The company has a set of core values that they do business by. They’re focused on their customers, safety, ethics, continuous improvement, continuous learning, performance/data-driven, thought and logic, cost sensitivity, opportunity recognition, and minimizing the impact on the environment.

David says they answer the phones day or night. He says back in the day before call forwarding, for the first 20-years of the company the phone would ring to the business and directly into Harley Morrison’s house. “He took care of stuff any hour of the day or night.” They continue that practice to this day. “We have technicians on-call. He gets paid just for being on standby. Of course, he gets paid if he has to go out and work at night too. We’re ready to do whatever we gotta do 24/7, 365.” They don’t have answering machines to answer the phones. Haas says if you call them, “Somebody picks up that phone and takes that call.”

They also believe in giving back. Morrison Inc supports the community by serving on several local and regional boards of directors. This includes the Rotary Club of Marietta, The Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption of Marietta, Southeastern Ohio Port Authority, Memorial Health Foundation, Peoples Bank Theatre, Marietta Tree Commission, Marietta Community Foundation, Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce, Marietta United Way. They also provide money to sponsor youth sports teams, festivals, and events. “We’re a major sponsor of River Roar, and somewhat lesser sponsors of things like Sternwheel Festival, and the fair,” Haas says they do what they can to make things better around town. “I think it’s important to take care of the people who got you to where you are.”

The Morrisons and Haas’ plan on marking the 60th anniversary of their company a few different ways. Special pricing on equipment. A blood drive for the Red Cross Blood Bank. Customer appreciation cookouts at selected locations and an evening river cruise on the Valley Gem for employees and their families.

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