Traffic Control Corp

Description

Corporate Profile Click the links below to learn about our company's history, and the industry we represent. The Beginning , 1950's , 1960's , 1970's , 1980's , 1990's , 2000 and Beyond Our History The Beginning With the end of World War II and hundreds of thousands of GI's returning home, automobile sales soared. Traffic increased; so did the need to control it. Early in 1946, Joseph Lizzadro, Sr., then Board Chairman of Meade Electric Company, and his associate Mr. Edward R. Hansen, formed Traffic Control Corporation. Its mission was to act as a distributor of traffic signal control equipment. At the time, Meade Electric was heavily involved in the maintenance of traffic signals, working directly with Automatic Signal Company of Norwalk, Connecticut, servicing and installing its traffic signal control equipment. Automatic Signal manufactured traffic-actuated traffic signal control equipment and vehicle detectors. Mr. Lizzadro felt that a new sales organization would be an excellent method of serving both Meade Electric's and Automatic Signal's needs. He hoped the new firm could work with Meade, as well as other Chicago area electrical contractors who installed traffic control systems. On the recommendation of Automatic Signal, Mr. Lizzadro hired Larry Kane, Traffic Engineer for the City of Gary, Indiana, to organize and manage Traffic Control Corporation. The initial office was located at 134 North LaSalle Street in Chicago. Mr. Kane was very knowledgeable in the field of traffic, and had a great number of contacts in the State of Indiana. Mr. Lizzadro then appointed his close personal friend, Meyer Birk, to act as President of the new company. Mr. Birk managed a real estate business, also located at the LaSalle Street address. Traffic Control thus became the exclusive distributor for Automatic Signal in the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. If it was to become a full-line traffic signal distributor, Traffic Control needed to broaden its product line to include fixed time controllers, a complete range of vehicle and pedestrian signal heads, and mast arm poles. Traffic Control negotiated an exclusive distributorship from General Electric Company, who manufactured a quality line of fixed-time equipment, along with vehicle and pedestrian signal heads. Concurrently, Traffic Control contracted with Union Metal Company of Canton, Ohio, to distribute its steel mast arm poles. Traffic Control was now ready to become a major player in the traffic signal business. In the early years, most of Traffic Control's sales were to Meade Electric. Meade Electric maintained all State of Illinois owned traffic signals in Cook and surrounding counties, as well as many village and county owned signals in the Chicago area. In 1947, Traffic Control further enhanced its product offerings by adding General Electric's line of street lighting luminairs, as well as tooling up for the production of handhole frames and covers, and cast iron traffic signal bases. The manufacturing was actually performed by Woodruff & Edwards Manufacturing of Elgin, Illinois. Traffic Control's annual sales in these early years was under $100,000.

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