From our homes to our businesses, from schools and hospitals to our roads, bridges, airports, and even the rocket launchpads that carry us to the stars — concrete is the foundation of our nation.

Happy 250th Birthday, America!

Starting this July and continuing through the rest of 2026, NRMCA will proudly tell the story of America’s Ready Mixed Concrete Industry and its enormous contribution to our country’s growth, economy, and everyday life.

Concrete is the material that builds America — from our interstate highways and iconic skyscrapers to suburban neighborhoods and rural farmhouses. For nearly 100 years, NRMCA has represented the companies that make this possible. Today, our industry has a presence in every state and every congressional district in the nation. And today’s ready mixed concrete is stronger, smarter, and more sustainable than ever.

America builds with concrete because we

Build With Strength.

Feature Spotlights

The Stories of Concrete Building America

Historic Piece

Invention of the Concrete Mixer Truck

America250 graphic: a horse-drawn concrete mixer, an early motorized mixer truck with its drum raised, and a modern Mack ready-mix truck

The invention of the concrete mixer truck marked a change in the way we build. Before it, concrete was batched and mixed in stationary plants and transported to the jobsite. The first portable mixer, patented in 1904, was horse-drawn. Stephen Stepanian filed for a patent on a self-discharging motorized transit mixer in 1916, but it wasn’t approved until 1933, so history books credit Ackert Bickel, whose patent came in 1920, with the first concrete mixer truck. Today’s trucks carry up to ten cubic yards, and this story salutes the participants in NRMCA’s 20th Annual National Mixer Driver Championship.

Read the full story →

More Spotlights

The stories of concrete building America

Historic Pieces

America250 graphic: a 1909 photo of workers finishing fresh concrete pavement on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan

Historic Piece

Woodward Avenue

Detroit, Michigan

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America250 graphic: the concrete arches of the William Howard Taft Bridge crossing the wooded Rock Creek gorge in Washington, D.C., with the strapline “The William Howard Taft Bridge (1907)”

Historic Piece

Taft Bridge

Washington, D.C.

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America250 graphic: aerial view of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, with the Potomac River and Washington, D.C. beyond, and the strapline “A Pentagon of Purpose (1943)”

Historic Piece

The Pentagon

Arlington County, Virginia

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America250 graphic: One World Trade Center rising above the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in New York City, New York, with the strapline “A testimonial to the resilience of the American spirit”

Historic Piece

One World Trade Center

New York City, New York

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America250 graphic: Bill Sandbrook, elected NRMCA Chairman in 2019, against a flag backdrop, with the strapline “We don’t wait for orders” — Bill Sandbrook’s 9/11 story

Historic Piece

Bill Sandbrook

Ground Zero, New York City · 2001

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America250 graphic: the Alvord Lake Bridge, San Francisco, CA — Ernest Ransome’s 1889 concrete arch underpass in Golden Gate Park, formed to resemble stone, with an inset photograph of the decorative concrete stalactites on its underside, captioned “The first reinforced concrete bridge in America”

Historic Piece

Alvord Lake Bridge

San Francisco, California

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America250 graphic: Football Stadiums — an aerial view of Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, its reinforced concrete bowl and concourses seen from above

Historic Piece

Football Stadiums

Green Bay, Wisconsin · Chicago, Illinois

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America250 graphic: the Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY — the Corning Tower and agency buildings rising behind the Legislative Office Building

Historic Piece

Empire State Plaza

Albany, New York

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The Space Needle rising above the Seattle skyline, Seattle, Washington, with an inset 1961 photograph of ready mix trucks ringed around the foundation pit during the record continuous concrete pour

Historic Piece

Space Needle

Seattle, Washington

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Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s cantilevered concrete house above Bear Run, Mill Run, Pennsylvania

Historic Piece

Fallingwater

Mill Run, Pennsylvania

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Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct (Nicholson Bridge) — the world's largest concrete railroad bridge, Nicholson, Pennsylvania

Historic Piece

Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct

Nicholson, Pennsylvania

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To the Moon and Beyond

Historic Piece

To the Moon and Beyond

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

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Reinforced Concrete Changed the Skyline

Historic Piece

Reinforced Concrete Changed the Skyline

Cincinnati, Ohio

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Hoover Dam

Historic Piece · Member Spotlight

Hoover Dam

Nevada–Arizona Border

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Court Avenue

Historic Piece

Court Avenue

Bellefontaine, Ohio

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Member Spotlights

Cranes, a concrete pump and ready mixed trucks at the I-35W Bridge construction site beside the Mississippi River

Member Spotlight

I-35W Bridge

Minneapolis, Minnesota

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An MCC, Inc. ready mixed concrete truck discharging onto a conveyor on the I-41 corridor

Member Spotlight

I-41 Mainline Widening Project

Appleton to Green Bay, Wisconsin

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A row of yellow Delta Industries ready mixed concrete trucks

Member Spotlight

Delta Industries, Inc.

Mississippi & Tennessee

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The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library under construction in the North Dakota Badlands, its curved concrete roof above the new concrete plaza

Member Spotlight

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

Medora, North Dakota

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Crews placing the concrete pier deck at Pier 6A, Philadelphia Navy Yard, with a concrete pump boom and cranes over the Delaware River

Member Spotlight

Navy Yard Pier 6A

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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The Pearl Innovation District at dusk, Charlotte, North Carolina

Member Spotlight

The Pearl Innovation District

Charlotte, North Carolina

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Concrete at the U.S. Capitol

Member Spotlight

U.S. Capitol

Washington, D.C.

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The Obama Presidential Center

Member Spotlight

Obama Presidential Center

Chicago, Illinois

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Hoover Dam

Historic Piece · Member Spotlight

Hoover Dam

Nevada–Arizona Border

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1072 West Peachtree

Member Spotlight

1072 West Peachtree

Atlanta, Georgia

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Follow #America250Concrete or visit nrmca.org/america250 to learn more.