In February, 1944, William B. Johnson, age 37, (Caleb’s Great Grandfather) founded Johnson Plumbing and Heating. William’s sons, Harold and Hot, worked in the business growing up after school, weekends and summers.
In 1965 Harold (age 35) and Hot (age 33) bought the business from their father who then moved to western Washington County and was a cattleman and farmer In 1966 Harold and Hot moved their business to West 6th Street (now MLK, Jr.) and expanded it to air conditioning and a small hardware line.
In 1973 the Brothers purchased Fayetteville Sheet Metal Works from Carl Tune and Hot moved to 1250 N. Leverett to manage the new company.
In 1976 a 7200 square foot building was built and attached to the 6400 square foot building where Fayetteville Sheet Metal was located. Johnson Plumbing and Fayetteville Sheet Metal combined offices and operations in the new building. A new company, Johnson Hardware, was started in the old Fayetteville Sheet Metal Works location. The new corporate name was Johnson Center and did business as Johnson Plumbing, Fayetteville Sheet Metal Works and Johnson Hardware.
In 1982 Hot Johnson sold his 50% interest in the company to his brother Harold. In 1987 Harold sold the plumbing and mechanical contracting division of Johnson Center to his son, Stan Johnson (age 30). This new entity officially became Johnson Mechanical Contractors, Inc. and moved to new headquarters at 513 W. Prairie St in Fayetteville. Johnson Mechanical Contractors also did business as Johnson Plumbing until Stan sold the company in 2003.
Circa 2020 Caleb Johnson (age 34) is now 40% owner in Johnson Mechanical Contractors and has plans to purchase the remaining stock and make a career of this business.