On December 22, 1906 at 6:30 a.m., a very horrible accident occurred at the East Mine in Breese, IL. Six men tragically died when an iron cage loaded with the men suddenly went crashing into the sump at the bottom of the mine. One local miner, Henry Hustedde, a Breese resident, was well known for his early arrival at the mine each day, but on that fatal day he happened to be running a bit late. He had been assisting his wife at home with getting a fire started in the outside washhouse to warm water, so that she could do laundry. It was on that day, Henry walked away from mining and decided to start working for a building materials firm, which eventually became known as “Hustedde & Son”. Henry and his son Frank would pour concrete on jobsites around the Breese area for many years. Materials were first delivered with a horse and wagon, and the concrete was mixed on-site with a small hand-cranked mixer.
In April 1952, Frank took the challenge of managing a newly incorporated Clinton County Ready Mix, located in Breese, Illinois. The first ready mix concrete truck purchased for Clinton County Ready Mix was a 1952 International gas powered truck with a 3 cubic yard Jaeger Mixer. At that time, the rock, sand and water were loaded in a truck from an overhead bin on the plant. Then, twenty bags of cement weighing 94 lbs. were set on a blade, cut in half, dumped into a hopper and augured into the 3 yard mixer truck to create a typical 5 bag mix. Today, the business is known as Quad-County Ready Mix and is controlled by Frank's son, Herb. Herb's wife, Carol, along with sons, Neil and Kent, have all taken an active role in the development of the company.
Although the process involved in the manufacture of concrete has changed, the strong family values, dedication to high quality standards, and the dedication to excellent customer service have not changed.
