Del e webb school of construction
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Del Webb
American real-estate developer (1899–1974)
This article is about the real-estate developer. For the firm, see Del E. Webb Construction Company.
Delbert Eugene "Del" Webb (May 17, 1899 – July 4, 1974) was an American real-estate developer and a co-owner of the New York Yankees baseball club. He founded and developed the retirement community of Sun City, Arizona, which was built by his Del E. Webb Construction Company.[1]
Early years
Webb was born in Fresno, California, to Ernest G. Webb, a fruit farmer, and Henrietta S. Webb. He dropped out of high school to become a carpenter's apprentice, and in 1919, he married Hazel Lenora Church, a graduate nurse. In 1920, Webb was a ship fitter, and they were living with his parents and two younger brothers in Placer County, California. At the age of 28, he suffered typhoid fever, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to recover.[1]
Career
In 1928, Webb began Del E. Webb Construction Company. He received many military contracts during World War II. In 1942, he led the construction of the Poston
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Del E. Webb was born in Fresno, California, in 1899. He migrated to Phoenix in 1928 where he worked with a small contractor building a new grocery store. One day his paycheck bounced and his employer disappeared. The grocer asked young Webb to take over the job and Del E. Webb Construction Co. went into business. Its total assets: one cement mixer, ten wheelbarrows, twenty shovels and ten picks.
Young Webb was an ardent baseball fan and an accomplished baseball player. On weekends he played semi-professional ball. His love of baseball led him, in partnership with another person, to buy the New York Yankees.
The Del E. Webb Construction Co. obtained major government construction contracts for air bases and military installations in Arizona and Southern California during World War II. By the 1960's, the Del E. Webb Construction Co. was one of the largest in the United States.
The Webb development that overshadows all others is Sun City, the first major retirement community in the country - an idea that not only transformed the Phoenix area, but had a major effect on the
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Del Webb
Del Webb’s father was a native-born Californian who spent his youth playing baseball before becoming a construction executive. Del followed a similar path. After washing out as a ballplayer, Webb spent several years as a carpenter before starting his own construction company. By landing a number of large government contracts during the Depression and World War II, Webb built his construction company into one of the largest and most profitable in the country.
As the War dragged on, Webb began considering additional business challenges. Always a ballplayer at heart, owning a baseball team intrigued him, and he informally scouted for opportunities to acquire one. He was lucky in that one of the most profitable and successful teams in America was available because of estate tax issues, and on the heels of the Depression, in the middle of the War, very few had any money to spend buying a baseball team. In January 1945 Webb purchased an interest in the New York Yankees, America’s preeminent sports franchise, for a war-depressed, bargain-basement price.
Three years later, W
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