Barney Walker stood before approximately 3,000 employees, family and members of the community Saturday to give thanks for the success of Walker Concrete.

Walker founded the company Nov. 1, 1953 in an old service station located on Ga. Highway 54 in Fayetteville when "he saw a need for concrete operation."

The company had its humble beginnings with a two-bag mixer that was pulled on a small trailer behind a pickup truck.

Walker said they began with small jobs like driveways where they would have to haul the sand, gravel, and cement separately and then mix it on site.

During this time, the company was contracted to pour its largest job, an 820-yard order that would become Fayetteville Training School and later East Fayette Elementary. It was after this job, Walker said he felt that the operation must be expanded.

The company acquired a two-yard agitator, which was the first step in allowing it to deliver ready-made concrete. Walker Concrete, known at the time as Farmers & Builders Supply, was soon delivering concrete to Jonesboro, Senoia and Fairburn in addition to Fayetteville.

The company continued to operate this way for the next 18 months when it bought a small one-yard batch plant.

Still using bag cement, the company began a series of purchases including a four-yard concrete mixer, another plant in 1956 and then an eight-yard mixer.

It was in 1959 when the company located a plant in Jonesboro that the business excelled. The Jonesboro site enabled the company to use the railroad where they could purchase bulk concrete.

The company was soon running 16 trucks and was the only concrete plant in all of Clayton, Henry and Fayette counties.

In the 1960s, Walker Concrete poured all of the concrete for the Atlanta International Raceway, Clayton General Hospital, Clayton College and State University, and all the grade schools in Clayton County.

The company also poured many bridges and several parts of I-75.

It was in 1970 that Walker said he noticed the considerable growth in Fayette County and led to their next move to expand business in Fayette.

Walker Concrete continued to be the only concrete company in Fayette County through 1974.

Walker said the next 20 years continued to be prosperous for the company, which led to further expansion.

In 1987, the company expanded to Conley, Ga., and in 1991, it expanded to Locust Grove. This past year, another plant was relocated to the original Jonesboro site, which had been sold in 1970.

Walker said he hopes to see completion of the Barnesville, Ga., plant by early next year.

Walker Concrete employs approximately 106 people and grosses over $24 million in revenue a year.

The company has remained a family-operated business with his oldest son Doug Walker as president and his younger son Dell Walker as senior vice president. Barney Walker continues as chairman of the board.

The Locust Grove plant is managed by his son-in-law Wayne Harris and his son-in-law Jeff Gilmore oversees the entire company as personnel manager.

Barney Walker, owner of one of the oldest businesses in Fayette County, has also been active in the community serving on the Fayetteville City Council for eight years, chairman of the Fayette County Board of Education for four years and the Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission for four years.

Walker has been a member of the Fayetteville First Baptist Church for 61 years and has been married to his wife Sue since 1952. They continue to reside in Fayetteville.