Posted on November 7, 2024
For its work on significant environmental projects and dedication to excellence in the field, the National Rivers Hall of Fame is honored to bestow the National Achievement Award to J.F. Brennan Company (Brennan). Presented to Brennan on November 1, 2024, the National Achievement Award is the highest honor presented by the Hall of Fame to those making significant contributions to America’s waterways.
This esteemed honor recognizes Brennan’s long-standing dedication to excellence and environmental stewardship on America’s waterways. Brennan, founded over a century ago, has expanded from its La Crosse, Wisconsin, flagship location to over a dozen offices nationwide, employing more than 600 team members.
President and CEO Matt Binsfeld Reflects on the Award
“On behalf of our entire Brennan team throughout North America, we are honored to accept the National Achievement Award from the National Rivers Hall of Fame,” said Brennan President and CEO Matt Binsfeld.
“During our 105-year history, we’ve had the good fortune to be involved with a great deal of significant water resource related work throughout this country, all of which has made a positive impact on commerce, our economy and the communities in which we’ve worked. At the basis of that work are generations of teams of exceptionally talented people with their unrelenting focus on safety, quality, and executing our work in the most proficient manner. Since our founding by Jim and Gene Brennan in 1919, the Brennan ‘story’ is one of people coming together to do the exceptional. We are sincerely thankful to the National Rivers Hall of Fame for recognizing our people.”
— Matt Binsfeld
A Century-Long Commitment to America’s Waterways
Brennan was founded in the early 1900s by two brothers, Gene and Jim Brennan, who were grandsons of an Irish immigrant. Gene and Jim Brennan grew up on a family homestead near Lansing, Iowa. As they completed 8th grade, they began an informal partnership pouring concrete floors in milk barns, threshing oats, operating a sawmill, and building bridges and became known as the Brennan Brothers. In 1919, Gene and Jim formalized their company as Brennan Brothers Construction.
In the 1920s, the infrastructure needs of Northeast Iowa grew, and the brothers began building steel-span bridges. Working through the Great Depression in 1937, Brennan takes on a particularly challenging project in Argyle, WI, building a bridge across the Pecatonica River. Difficulty dewatering the cofferdam for the pier nearly puts the company under.
In the 1940s, Brennan Brothers was classified as a critical company for the war effort and increased their work on area railroads. Despite challenges placed upon them by the draft and strict rationing, their company continues to excel. By 1945, Jim Brennan and his family moved to La Crosse, opening a new shop near the banks of the Mississippi River. In the 1950s, the U.S. Coast Guard becomes a client of Brennan, contracting the company to maintain navigational markers between St. Paul and St. Louis.
As the company continued to prosper, Brennan Brothers was reincorporated as J.F. Brennan Company in 1959, officially establishing La Crosse, WI, as their headquarters. Jim Brennan becomes its 1st president, working alongside his son Ralph and son-in-law Roger, focusing primarily on river work.
