Our History

Sterett Construction Company, founded by William Sterett Sr., started as a light utility construction company in 1949. Bill Sr., having recently returned from World War II, began building houses and subdivisions in Southern Indiana. Because of the growth and developing subdivision expansion in the area, he recognized the need for construction and utility equipment. Sterett’s first purchases were a D-2 Caterpillar dozer and a Buckeye dragline, which he rented for clearing land and ditches for farmers and municipalities. After a short period of time, Bill Sr. realized the need for additional equipment to answer the growing demand.

Sterett initiated the evolution to Sterett Crane & Rigging and began purchasing truck cranes and crawler cranes as needs arose. By the early 1960’s, the Ohio River Valley area was booming with new power plants and industry that required larger equipment. Sterett insightfully answered the demands of customers by continually purchasing the equipment necessary for long-term projects. Early in the 1970’s, Bill Sr.’s son, Bill Jr., entered the business and continued to expand the crane division.

In 1974, Sterett purchased the Clark-Lima 300 ton truck crane prototype, the largest available in the US market at the time. The crane was soon working at power plants, aluminum plants, coal mine projects and numerous large construction jobs. By the early 1980’s, Sterett had one of the largest crane fleets in the Midwest and was covering a 400-mile radius with their large cranes.

As the demand for larger hydraulic cranes continued to grow through the 1980’s, Sterett purchased larger machines as they became available to the market. Sterett also added 400 and 800-ton lift gantries, multi-axle dolly systems, and 125 ton 14-axle transport systems to meet the needs of the area’s industry.

With the desire to grow the family business, William Sterett III (Tres) entered the industry in the late 1990’s with new ideas and technological skills that enable Sterett Crane to remain a prominent leader in the crane, rigging and transportation industry.

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