ABOUT US

Four Generations of the Atkins Family

Our company got its start with Thomas E. Atkins Sr., who began mixing minerals and de-wormer products for livestock in 1908 on his Boone Country farm. His products worked, and area farmers became satisfied customers.

In 1925, the Atkins family moved to Columbia, MO. As his reputation for quality agricultural chemicals grew, Thomas Sr. was asked by the City of Columbia to provide janitorial supplies and equipment. That was in 1925, and by then Thomas E. Atkins Jr., who was known as “Country,” had joined the business.

Through the years that followed, Atkins’ business included agricultural products, janitorial equipment and supplies and lawn chemicals. During four decades of cultural and agricultural development, some business activities were discontinued while other opportunities opened.

In 1961, Country’s son, Thomas E. Atkins III, joined the company as the warehouse supervisor and purchasing agent for the janitorial supply business. A year later, he bought half the company, and nine years later acquired the remaining interest.

Atkins’ building maintenance services began in 1969 with janitorial services for a local business. Building maintenance grew during the 1970s, and we added pest control, grounds maintenance and irrigation companies. Those companies were merged into Atkins Building Services and Products, Inc. in 1979.

As the company expanded its four divisions during the 1970s, a fourth generation, Scott Atkins, the son of Tom III, joined the business.

“My dad, Country, used to say, ‘No matter what you do, do the best job you know how to do. If you’re going to dig ditches, dig the best ditch you possibly can.' I think the community supports us because we are all part of this community, not just as an organization, but as individuals…we want the place where we live to be a vibrant, thriving community, and we strive to do business in a way that supports that.”

— Thomas E. Atkins, III