The ALBERT M. HIGLEY CO. is a Cleveland-based general contracting and construction management firm that has built many recognizable structures in Northeast Ohio. Among the Higley Co. 's many projects are the Hiram College Science Building (1927); Curtis Wright Airport (CUYAHOGA COUNTY AIRPORT) (1929); the U.S. COAST GUARD CLEVELAND STATION (1939); Cleveland Graphite Bronze Co (see CLEVITE CORP. ) (1940); Greyhound Bus Terminal (1946); Sophronia Brooks Hall Auditorium at Oberlin College (1952); WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY (1957); Thompson Auto Museum (1964); University Center at CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY (1973); CLEVELAND HOPKINS AIRPORT Concourse D (1999); the Middle School Addition at HATHAWAY BROWN SCHOOL (2001); and Horvitz Hall at Kenyon College (2012).
The firm was founded in 1925 by Albert Maltby Higley, a 1917 graduate of Case School of Applied Science ( See CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) and a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War One. A descendant of Capt. John Higley, a seventeenth-century immigrant to Connecticut, Albert Higley was born in Cleveland on Feb. 2, 1895, a son of Frank Higley and his wife Carrie A. Maltby. On Sept. 11, 1926, he married Mildred Schuch, a social worker and a 1922 graduate of the School of Applied Social Sciences at Western Reserve University. She was born in Cleveland Jan. 10, 1896, a daughter of Charles Schuch and Elizabeth Kehres. Albert M. Higley, Sr., died Dec. 30, 1969. His widow, Mildred S. Higley, died May 2, 1994.
During his career, Albert M. Higley, Sr., held many civic posts, including president of the Case Alumni Association; trustee of Case Institute of Technology, Denison University, and Huron Road Hospital; and chairman and a member of the board of governors of the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the American Red Cross (see AMERICAN RED CROSS, CLEVELAND CHAPTER). He was president of his firm until 1965, and chairman until 1969. He was replaced as chairman by his son, Albert M. Higley, Jr. (1928-2012), who served until 1998.
As of 2014, the Albert M. Higley Co., headquartered on Chester Avenue in Cleveland with 80 full-time employees, had completed more than 11,700 projects, and was led by president and chief executive officer Bruce G. Higley (son of Albert M. Higley, Jr.) who joined the firm in 1983.