M.E. Gillioz

From Monett 1887-1987

M. E. Gillioz is a citizen of whom we are proud because of his loyalty to Monett. For all his energyand phenominal success as a contractor and builder, he has refused to remove his headquarters from our town. It has been his boast that in all his undertaking he has never asked anyone for help. The father of M. E. Gillioz, a native of Switzerland, left there to take a job on a ship to the United States. He settled in the Ozarks, on a farm near Rolla. M. E. Gillioz, the son, grew up on the farm, where he did his field work with a yoke of oxen. When a very young man, Mr. Gillioz found he could reap more profit from his labor by working at railroad building. After working for some time on the Santa Fe Railroad at Temple, Texas, he went to St. Louis where he spent six years in construction work. He was never a clock-watcher; he would stay overtime to learn more of the work. While there he earned the position of foreman, on the Frisco B. and B. construction crew. He held that job for twelve years. His work took him to Pierce City. While there he secured the contract in his own right for the foundation, floor, and partial construction of the new St. Mary's Church. Although he had only one contract in sight, he gave up his work for the Frisco. But he got other work in Pierce City and began building bridges and roads throughout Southwest Missouri, when horses still formed the motive power for the transportation of material. He came to Monett after his first contract in Monett, the building of the concrete bridges over Kelly Creek on Fourth and Fifth Streets. That was in 1907. Mr. Gillioz was married during the years when he was learning the building business as a laborer in St. Louis. Mrs. Gillioz, who was Miss Mary Moret, was his boyhood sweetheart who lived on a neighboring farm near Rolla. She managed their households always with the same efficiency she has shown in their beautiful Carthage stone home in Monett.

M.E. Gillioz A Tribute by: Albert R. Waters

I am sure the "M" stands for Maurice. I do not know what the "E" stands for but it ought to be "Energy." If the "G" did not stand for Gillioz it could stand for "Guts" which by the way reminds me of a poem.

GUTS
"The title of my verse, I fear
May jar upon the cultured ear
Or shock the squeamish and precise
Whose speech is always over-nice
And yet the simple fact remains
That whether men have brawn or brains
The thing that lifts them from the ruts
IS GUTS."

About 15 years ago I had the pleasure of accompanying Mr. Gillioz on a trip to inspect one of his highway jobs near St. Joe and upon our return to Kansas City we sat up in his room at the old Baltimore Hotel after a full meal, and so forth, solving some of the country's problems and exchanging some confidences. Somehow or other, "M.E." got to talking about some work he did as a young man on a construction job down at St. Louis. In those days, concrete was mixed on a board or platform by the strong arm and muscle system. Several men standing around the board would shovel the aggregate, rock, sand and cement into a pile until the mix looked about right. He said he used to go home to his bare room after a long day and would spend most of the evening soaking his feet trying to remove the cement from them so he could walk to work the next day and then go through the same performance. After a good many days and months of such work it occurred to him that the man who hired him had all the best of the deal, doing more agreeable work and making far more money. He began to figure out how he could be the boss and hire someone else to shovel the concrete. Out of this experience and out of this idea grew the Gillioz Construction Company of Monett, Missouri which has probably built more highway projects in this part of the country, especially in Missouri, than any other contractor. But, it wasn't done quickly and success which finally came in large measure did not come in a day. Let us now look at some of the details.

"M.E." or the "Boss" as many of his friends know him began life on a farm near Dillon which is in Phelps County not far from Rolla, Missouri. I do not know just when this happened because each time I have tried to find out, he has either changed it on me or has told me it was none of my blankety-blankety business which is probably right. The father was a native of Bern, Switzerland but demonstrated his loyalty to his newly adopted country by enlisting on the Union side and fighting through the Civil War. The mother was of Alsatian parentage but born in Paris, France. If you think this is not sufficiently complicated, I understand that the name "Gillioz" is in reality a Spanish name. Some how or other, farm work which included breaking ground with a yoke of oxen did not exactly suit young Gillioz and he began to look around for something more exciting, even as a boy. He found it over on the Frisco Railroad not far away where they put him to work as a bridge and building hand. The fact is that this man, Gillioz, is never very well satisfied and always seems to think he can do better and he usually does. (Incidentally, he always seems to think that the man furnishing him his material should do better.) In other words, he is a pusher 24 hours a day and that is putting it mildly. Well, you probably have figured out the next step - he became a foreman and then a superintendent. Along about 1914 and probably still remembering the experience at St. Louis with cement between his toes, he decided to quit his job and become a contractor. He started at Pierce City, Missouri, doing small jobs such as sidewalks, basements, excavations, culverts, etc., but shortly afterwards moved over to Monett, Missouri where he has been located ever since.

The next step was the construction of fairly sizable county road and bridge work. At about this time World War No.1 came along and construction became active and M. E. Gillioz expanded his business further. Shortly after the war, the State of Missouri began its State Highway program and this was ready made for him. It is not possible to record even the big jobs he has done since that time. They include highways, bridges, viaducts, water works, sewage disposal plants, as well as hospitals, business buildings and nearly every type of construction.

M. E. Gillioz is no man to be stopped by anything big or little. Some years ago he sent his engineer down south to bid on a big hospital job. Shortly after the letting he came back and reported to "the Boss" that they were low bidders all right, he having made a mistake of $100,000.00 in his estimate. Now, knowing M. E. Gillioz as I do, I would have said that this would produce nothing less than an earthquake in the vicinity of Monett, but I have it on good authority that the boss never batted an eyelash but started doing a little high pressure thinking. I do not know what he thought about or what he did, but it wasn't long until the bid was rejected and M. E. Gillioz saved himself $100,000.00.

He has shown remarkably good judgment even though he sometimes seems to act on hunches. Being human he sometimes misses. I remember some years ago he mailed a bid to the State Highway Department for a sizable project. The bid was read at Jefferson City at 10 o'clock the next morining by Tom Cutler, the State Highway Engineer who explained that a few minutes prior to the opening of the bids Mr. Gillioz had wired him to reduce his bid by $1,000.00. This, of course, was perfectly legitimate since it was received before the bids were opened. Mr. Cutler then announced that the only bid received was that of Mr. Gillioz and that since his bid was well within the estimate it would be awarded to him and it was - at the reduced figure. Such things, however, never interferred with a real friendship that existed between Gillioz and Cutler. Maybe you know the story about the deer which the game warden said didn't have enough antlers. Gillioz said he shot it but "that ain't the way I heard it."

M. E. Gillioz, the first citizen of Monett, is far more than a contractor. He is an automobile dealer, banker, clothing merchant, druggist, accord ian player, picture theater owner and a judge of many good things. Furthermore, he is a man who is supremely aggressive and determined, original, selfreliant, generous, loyal to his friends and eternally youthful. He likes to make money and he doesn't mind putting it into circulation. The fact is, he is the only one of his kind in existence and I don't know where you will look upon his like again.

Gillioz Theater in Monett 1937