Roger Harris started his
electrical business in 1960 out of his home in Arthur, Illinois. This
consisted of mostly farmstead electrical wiring and some residential
wiring. His wife Glenna assisted Roger by doing the bookwork. In
1961, Roger and Glenna moved to Atwood where they continued to operate the business out of their home. Roger worked by himself until 1965 when
he hired his first employee, George Fombelle.
Roger purchased the building where he operates his business today from Paul T. Quick in 1969. Many changes have been made to the building. In 1970 Wanda Long was the first hired office employee. Roger, with the help of Lloyd Lowder, started Harris Industries, Inc. in 1977. Harris Industries, Inc. was established to provide a service within the grain industry to repair old wooden “manlifts”. It later expanded this service to include special purpose personnel elevators and belt manlifts.
In 2003, Harris Companies expanded their operation by forming Harris International Elevator, Inc. (formerly Viola Industries and International Elevator Co. Inc.) In March of 2005 Harris Industries, Inc. and Harris International Elevator, Inc. merged to form one company. This company manufactures special purpose personnel elevators, freight elevators and replacement parts for these elevators.
The sales and service department of Harris International Elevator, Inc. specializes in the sale, installation, repair, and safety surveys of special purpose personnel elevators, manual hand powered elevators, belt manlifts, and freight elevators. This enables us to provide a “turn-key” installation from the planning, ordering, steel erection, electrical, testing and instruction of personnel as to the proper use and maintenance of the equipment.
Scott Harris, (Roger’s son), manages
Harris International Elevator, Inc.
Jeff Wright,
Kevin Strong,
Scott Stephenson,
Ted Gandy and
Bill Erb
make up the other members of the service crew. They make an extra
effort to make sure all special purpose personnel elevators, hand
powered elevators, belt manlifts and freight elevators are properly
installed, repaired, and maintained to meet current standards. Their
crew travels worldwide.
Scott Aubert
is the Harris
welder and fabricator, he makes sure that the fab shop is running smoothly.
