Concrete, asphalt and masonry equipment manufacturer EDCO celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2009. Pictured are the company’s 60 employees.

EDCO recently celebrated its 50^th anniversary on Oct. 17 with a dinner for its 60 employees at the Red Horse Restaurant in Frederick, Md. The company designs, engineers and builds several lines of concrete, asphalt and masonry equipment, which is produced at its 85,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Frederick.

The company began in 1959 with the idea to build a concrete grinder for the rental industry. EDCO was formed to manufacture high-quality surface preparation & professional sawing equipment. Through the years, EDCO has met the needs of the surface rehabilitation, restoration, maintenance and rental industries.

EDCO is a privately owned business run by two families, the Hardings and the Swans, who have guided the company with family values and hard work to become a global leader of specialized concrete, asphalt and masonry products.

At the employee dinner, third-generation family member, Jason Stanczyk, started the evening by giving a heartfelt speech expressing how much he and his family appreciated all the years of hard work and dedication by all company employees who have made EDCO the successful company it is today.

Bill Harding, co-owner and president of EDCO, said, “We’ve come a long way from building machines out of a garage to where we are today. It’s a great feeling to continue what my father, Ed Harding, started with Leo Swan 50 years ago.”

“Fifty years ago I borrowed seed money to get this company started with the idea of producing a machine that rental companies needed,” said co-founder Leo Swan. “It was the concrete floor grinder, which I called the Mistake Eraser and [it] was for contractors who needed to fix problems with their concrete slabs. We went to the American Rental Show in 1958 and were highly successful. I said, ‘How are we going to build these things?’ My partner Ed Harding and I figured it out and now we have over 50 products that we sell, I couldn’t be more proud.”