Warner, Irving, 1882-1964.

Irving Warner, Jr., was a nationally known consulting engineer and lime expert and vice president of the family-owned Warner Company of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del.

The Warner family began mercantile operations in Wilmington in the 18th century. Soon they were operating a line of ships between Philadelphia and Wilmington, which became important in transporting coal brought down from the Pennsylvania fields. By the time of the Civil War, the business had expanded to include sand and lime used in mortar and cement. The company began importing Portland cement from Europe in 1865.

The firm was incorporated in 1885 as the Charles Warner Company and reincorporated in 1929 as the Warner Company to consolidate the operations of its various subsidiaries. In 1899 it purchased the Cedar Hollow Lime Company of Devault, Pa., which worked one of the largest dolomite deposits in the East for the production of lime. It also acquired the famous Bellefonte Ledge in Centre County, Pa., the largest and purest deposit of high-calcium limestone in the East.

Eventually, one of the company's best known products was ready-mixed concrete, delivered in revolving drum trucks. It was the first firm in the Philadelphia area to provide this service. It was likewise first in the East to produce and market a hydrated lime, and the first to store quicklime in air-tight bunkers. The company maintains extensive limestone reserves and manufacturing plants in the Delaware Valley.

From the description of Papers, 1794-1964. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86123500