On March 26, 1923 Independent Boiler and Tank Company was incorporated when Harry J. Reynolds and Walter E. Schmidt left Corbitt Boiler Company and set-out to create their own venture. The company primarily performed boiler field erection and repair for various public agencies during this time. As the decade progressed, the company developed a strong relationship with the City of Chicago, a client that would eventually become the company’s largest for several decades.
History
During the 1930s the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago, another large client of the company’s, began outsourcing its maintenance and repair labor. Independent Boiler and Tank, successfully secured this Tradesman contract from the District thus laying the foundation for a relationship with the locals that continues to the present day.
The fifties saw the company continue its tradition of participating in new technology “demonstration projects” for the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago, with the construction of a Zimpro wet oxidation process high pressure reactor. The process, developed by Fred T. Zimmerman, was a cutting edge method for the treatment of wastewater. The company would participate in another Sanitary District demonstration project some 50 years later, with the construction of a state of the art bio-solids pelletization plant, designed to turn bio-solids waste into marketable fertilizer. By then the second generation of management was firmly in place, with Harry J. Reynolds Jr., and Harold A. Schmidt, and Harry J. Reynolds youngest son, William R. Reynolds.
By the 70’s the company had expanded its areas of expertise so much, that management decided to change the firm’s name of 50 years to Independent Mechanical Industries, Inc. (IMI). Along with the name change, the 70’s saw the beginning of the third generation’s careers at the firm when John M. Reynolds, son of Harry J. Reynolds, Jr., began working as a Pipefitter for the company in 1973. John’s career at IMI would see him work his way through the ranks of management, becoming CEO in 2003.
Independent Mechanical welcomed another third generation family member when Joseph P. Reynolds, son of William R. Reynolds, joined the company IMI in 1984. At the same time the company was welcoming a new member to its team, it also had to say goodbye to two of its second generation members, with the retirement of Harold A. Schmidt and the untimely passing of William R. Reynolds.
By the 90’s the company had developed the capability and the reputation as a full service mechanical contractor that could perform any type of mechanical work in any environment.
The New Millennium has brought a fourth generation Reynolds onto the Management Team, with the hiring of David Reynolds in 2010. David is currently the Company’s Vice President and Compliance Officer. He and the current middle management team will help shape the Company and bring Independent Mechanical into the Future.
