Here since the 1800's.

I started my journey with Atkins in June of 2000 after finishing up the spring semester at MU. I had called on my Grandad’s cousin Vern to see what all they did at Atkins as I knew he had been running their irrigation division for some time. I interviewed with my good buddy Dave Jobe and was fortunately hired right away to work in the Atkins Turf & Tree Department.  It wasn’t necessarily what I had planned to do after college, but I soon realized that I loved the work and the atmosphere that Atkins provided me.  Leadership and support from the Atkins Family, the Atkins Inc. team and a whole bunch of loyal Atkins customers made it easy and rewarding for me to come in every day to do the work that needed done in an attempt to try to exceed our customers’ expectations.  That amounts to 23 years of service with Atkins for me, but Atkins has been around a lot longer than that!

The Atkins family has been in Boone County since the mid-1800’s, where they operated a small farm. T.E. Atkins Sr. mixed minerals and dewormer for livestock on the farm and then began selling them to other local farmers under the company name Atkins Manufacturing Company.  In 1925, T.E. Atkins Jr., or “Country” as he was known, left the farm to go to high school. T.E. Sr and wife Elsie soon followed and relocated the family in Columbia. They changed the name to Atkins Chemical and as Columbia grew and opportunities arose, Atkins grew too. They expanded into cleaning chemicals and janitorial supplies.

In 1951, T.E. Atkins Sr. transferred ownership to his daughter and son-in-law and operated as Atkins-McCauley Chemical. T.E. “Tom” Atkins III joined the family business and ran their sales department. He also worked to develop new business lines, such as Janitorial equipment and lawn care supplies. Later on in 1970 Tom bought out the McCauleys (aunt and uncle) and continued growing the business and adding to their list of services and products offered. Pest Control, Irrigation, Building Maintenance, Janitorial Services and Grounds Maintenance were all added in the 1970’s. In 1975, Tom purchased the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Factory, the first industrial building built in Columbia (1906-07), where the Atkins company would later move into and still utilize today. 

In 1985, Scott Atkins, fourth generation of the Atkins family, joined the company. Scott’s passion for real estate development and restoration was a great fit with the building of Atkins Investments. The company ventures into historic preservation and purchases several historically significant buildings in downtown Columbia area.  After a lot of 12 and 14 hour days for Scott, they completed the restoration of the Strollway Center (1911 Virginia Building) in 2002 and renamed it the Atkins City Centre. 2003 and 2005, they renovate the Matthews and Miller buildings. In 2007 they finish renovations of the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Factory then in 2013 they complete the Parker Building renovations.  Scott says that it is very satisfying to see these buildings and the area are all thriving now, when they were once struggling. 

“Paying it forward” is what it’s all about for the Atkins Family. From serving as a Columbia College Board of Trustees, and as a Curator to the University of Missouri, offering donations to Columbia College (Linda Atkins is a 1954 graduate of Christian College, which was renamed Columbia College in 1970) and dedication of the Atkins-Hollman Student Commons, development of the T.E. Atkins MU Wellness Program at the University of Missouri, donation of 81 acres to the City of Columbia and Boone County to be used for recreation facilities (later named by city and county officials Thomas E. “Country” Atkins Jr. Memorial Park), and a host of other charities and scholarship funds. The list keeps growing.