The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

TULSA RIG AND REEL MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

The Tulsa Rig and Reel Manufacturing Company was established in 1908 in Tulsa as a supplier of oil-field equipment, rig timbers, and lumber for oil field construction. In 1911 Charles W. Flint (1884–1950) became associated with the company, and by 1919 he and Roy Lundy (1877–1956) assumed its ownership. They expanded its operation, which at peak operated thirty-one oil-field lumberyards in Oklahoma. In 1938 the partners established a general construction division. With the advent of World War II Tulsa Rig and Reel became deeply involved in military construction, building a training camp at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and air bases at both Dodge City and Garden City, Kansas. In 1944 Flint became sole owner of the company, and by the time of his death on August 5, 1950, the company was disposing of its oil-field lumberyards and opening home-builder supply centers in both Denver, Colorado, and Tulsa, as well as continuing in the general construction business. In 1972 when the company name was changed to Flintco, Inc., as one of the Flint Industries' group of companies, they disposed of their building supply operation and focused on general construction. At the beginning of the twenty-first century Flintco continued to be owned by the Flint family and was the second largest construction company in Oklahoma, behind Manhattan. Flintco had offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Tennessee, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sacramento, California, and Springfield, Missouri.

Bobby D. Weaver