Robert E. McKee MASTER BUILDER  is a limited first edition (1,000 copies), slip cased, hard cover, 8 1/2 x 11 inch, 412 page color printed book containing 337 photographs and illustrations, end notes, an introduction, a bibliography, acknowledgments, and an index.   This biography published by the Robert E. and Evelyn McKee Foundation went on sale for the first time with a signing by the author on Saturday, January 17, 1998 at Barnes & Noble in El Paso.   

Orders will be received in writing at the foundation office at 5835 Cromo Drive, Suite 1, E1 Paso, Texas, 79912-5501 (P. O. Box 220599, E1 Paso, Texas 79913-2599) or by - Phone (915) 581-4025; Fax (915) 833-3714 and E-mail. Books will also be available at Barnes & Noble in El Paso, Texas or by special order.  Any profits which may be derived from the sale of this book will become assets of the Foundation.

"Robert E. McKee – Master Builder,"

by Leon Claire Metz, published by the Robert E. and Evelyn McKee Foundation, 200 pages, $59.95.

By Myrna I. Zanetell

When astute writing, elegant design, and most of all, an intriguing story line combine, it is almost assured that a book will be a memorable reading experience. "Robert E. McKee – Master Builder" contains all three.

From the beginning, McKee seemed gifted with the ability to seize opportunities and make the most of them. In 1909, the 20-year-old followed a hunch and moved to El Paso, landing a job with the City Engineering Department. For a short period, he also moonlighted as a land surveyor, an occupation that opened his eyes to the ownership and development of real estate.

McKee prospered in the construction business, beginning with home repairs, and later constructing and selling homes. A sharp pencil and a strong sense of dedication ensured that he also got his share of commercial projects.

By now McKee had also found a wife and lifelong partner in Gladys Evelyn Woods, a polished young lady whose father had managed a Guatemalan coffee plantation before settling at the Pass of the North. Throughout her lifetime, Evie maintained Danish, American and Guatemalan citizenships, proof that she possessed a strong mind of her own.

During his first seven years of business, McKee contracted for more than a million dollars worth of construction, and his company expanded into Arizona, New Mexico and eastward into Dallas and Houston.

The fledging construction firm began to take on more commercial projects, building train depots, hospitals and schools. Hotels also became a lucrative part of the business when Conrad Hilton chose McKee to build the Abilene Texas Hotel for the Hilton chain. Additional contracts came for Hilton hotels in Lubbock, San Angelo and El Paso’s own Paso Del Norte.

These edifices would only portend great structures yet to come.

Before his death in 1964, Robert E. McKee acted as owner, manager and director of the world’s largest private construction company, leaving behind such monuments as the Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airports, military construction at Los Alamos, Tonapah Test Site in Nevada, Hickam field in Hawaii, and perhaps his most elegant and controversial commission, the chapel at the U. S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

In addition to his genius as a builder, McKee was also a man who was determined to enhance the quality of life in his own surroundings.

He frequently participated in El Paso politics and was instrumental in securing a segment of the renowned Kress Art Collection and in spearheading the campaign to create the publicly funded El Paso Museum of Art.

On a national basis, Robert E. McKee will be remembered as a master builder, however, the city of El Paso also honors him as a citizen and humanitarian.

Leon Metz has done an excellent job of compiling volumes of information into an enlightening and enjoyable history of one of El Paso’s most memorable citizens. Typography, design and computer graphic efforts by youngest son Louis McKee are clearly the labor of love from a talented man. This magnificently bound book is a treasure to please any collector.

Myrna Zanetell is gallery director of Studio W and a free-lance writer.

El Paso Times LIVING

SUNDAY, FEB. 8, 1998

Books McKee helped mold El Paso 2F

Special to the Times

Robert Eugene McKee was a construction superstar. With a unique blend of motivation and vision he literally created the skylines of Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Denver, San Diego and dozens of other smaller cities. At one time during World War II, R. E. McKee General Contractors employed more than 42,000 people.

And it all started in El Paso.

In "Robert E. McKee: Master Builder," author and historian Leon Metz deftly entwines the segments of McKee’s life: his family, his rise to the top of America’s construction business and the inside workings of his corporation. The results are fascinating.

McKee was born in Cook County, Illinois, on June 15, 1889. His family migrated to St. Louis. When McKee was 10, his father was killed in an accident. Young Robert pitched in to help support the family. He picked rags, sold bones and peddled junk found in streets and alleys.

A decade later, McKee was working for his uncle as a cowhand in the tiny hamlet of Elk, N.M., near Cloudcroft. In 1908, he helped move a herd of cattle by railroad to El Paso. The town was experiencing one of its early booms and he decided to stay.

He found a job as a draftsman in the city’s engineering department. During off hours he moonlighted, surveying for developers. Eventually, he struck out on his own as an independent contractor. He never looked back.

Projects

Here are some of the construction projects of the R. E. McKee Co. in Downtown El Paso.

• El Paso Civic Center.
• El Paso National Bank (now Chase Texas).
• State National Bank (now Wells Fargo Bank).
• El Paso Natural Gas Company (now Blue Flame and Paul Kaiser Buildings).
• Hilton Hotel (now Plaza Hotel).
• U. S. Courthouse.

They had eight children, some of whom would join the business.

Over the next 50-plus years McKee built more than 3,000 projects in El Paso, nationally and overseas. He literally changed the look of our city, building the Hilton Hotel, Bassett Tower, the two El Paso Natural Gas Company office buildings, the U. S. Courthouse, several buildings on the UTEP campus and Austin High School to name a few.

From 1937 to 1939, the company built the huge train depot in Los Angeles and set up a division office in Los Angeles to handle other projects – like the Los Angeles International Airport. During World War II the McKee organization constructed America’s super-secret Los Alamos installations in northern New Mexico.

An avid art collector, he gave the city 62 masterworks from the Kress Foundation. These renaissance paintings hang in the El Paso Museum of Art.

McKee remained active in his company until his death Oct. 21, 1964, at the age of 75. He had directed the largest private construction firm in the world. Two decades later the McKee contracting firm closed its doors.

"Robert E. McKee: Master Builder" is a credit to those who produced it. In this major undertaking, Leon Metz’s writing is superb, Louis B. McKee’s typography, design and computer graphics treats us to an exceptionally handsome 400 pages.

INDIVIDUALS

Lillian Bidal –
"they are truly a beautiful tribute to your parents!  I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am to receive my own personal copy.  Thank you!
While thumbing through my book the thought struck me that there is absolutely no way anyone could improve on this spectacular achievement."

 

Paul A. Brennand –
"…..I congratulate you on the marvelous job of publishing Robert E. McKee MASTER BUILDER. It is truly a first class effort!"

 

Judith Nations Crow –

“It is a beautifully put together story of your father’s achievements and has brought back many memories for me. 

It seems as though since I was a small child the McKee name was part of my growing up.”

 

Wm. Stanley Davis –

“The book is fabulous and am enjoying reading it.”

 

Clark Henderson –
"Thanks for sending me your fabulous book."

 

Michael L. Keleher –
"It is beautiful ….."

 

Charles H. Leavell – The Leavell Company –

“Robert E. McKee Master Builder is a very handsome and well-written book about my good friend and competitor, and about his fine family.

Leon Metz, ably supported by you, has certainly produced a quality volume and biography of an outstanding construction personality and great financial industrialist.  You are to be complemented as is all of your family.  Many thanks and I will display it with honor.”

 

Susan D. Koser –

 "The book is beautiful!”

 

Mr. & Mrs. Dick McNemee –

“Thank you so much for the beautiful book.  It couldn’t have turned out better.  I bet your Dad would be proud.”

 

Deane G. Miller –

“….. had shown Dorothy a copy and she loved it – as do I!  It is a fabulous book!”

 

Los Alamos Historical Museum –
"We owe a great deal of the heritage of Los Alamos to the R. E. McKee Company and are pleased to add this important resource to our archives."

 

Merrill L. Norton –

“my son and I shall be proud to include them in our libraries.”

 

Susan Phillips –
"I have proudly placed it on my coffee table.  The book is beautiful, all your hard work paid off."

 

Pete Rainone – Rainone Gallery, Inc.

“What an excellent book.”

 

Nancy Anderson Roberts –

“It is a beautiful book and a nice addition to my library.”

 

Mary Shaw –
"What a tremendous undertaking on your part and so beautifully and well done – oh, the time it must have taken!"

 

John P. Toelkes, DVM –

“The books are truly beautiful and I am sure our sons will welcome them when birthday times arrive.  You must be proud that you could honor your father so wonderfully.”

 

Gerald D. Wylie –
"After receiving the book, I immediately started reading it. I found I could not put it down. …..It was great reading."

 

 

LIBRARIES, SCHOOLS, UNIVERSITIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

 

Los Alamos Historical Museum –

“We owe a great deal of the heritage of Los Alamos to the R. E. McKee Company and are pleased to add this important resource to our archives.

 

Library for the Blind - Jack Huff (narrator who taped the book) –

“…..  The volunteer ‘work’ is really a pleasure, especially so when one is able to read a book as interesting as the one about your father.  He is a man I would like to have known, and I especially enjoyed his personal philosophies.  I was also most impressed by his diligence and honesty and his interest in a wide variety of subjects, such as local, state and national politics, as well as the arts and many other subjects.  You are indeed fortunate to have a father such as he.”

 

New Mexico State University - Charles T. Townley, Ph. D., Dean of the University Library –

“You continue to maintain a very high standard of typography and layout for which I am unfeignedly thankful.  There are not enough good looking books produced these days!”

 

Pro-Cathedral Church of St. Clement - C. B. Mapes, Parish Administrator,–
"My thanks to the foundation for publishing such fine work."

 

Texas Tech University - Preston Lewis, Director of Library Development and External Relations,–
"Let me congratulate you on a beautiful book. Robert E. McKee: Master Builder is well done and will be a valued addition to the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library.  You did an excellent job on the design and the photographs."

 

University of New Mexico Libraries - Lynn Trojahn, Director of Development and Public Affairs –

“These handsome editions will certainly make a difference in our collection.  …..”

 

The University of New Mexico, The School of Engineering, Office of the Dean, Farris Engineering Center - Dion McInnis, Engineering Development –

“…..  The books will be in the Centennial Engineering Library soon…there are a couple of us enjoying the read first.  They are outstanding tributes to your father and to the role of engineering in the development of New Mexico.  I hope that our students gain a fuller appreciation of the potential of engineering after reading your books.”

University of Texas at El Paso – Claudia Rivers, Head, Special Collections –
"…..; I always look forward to the books the McKee foundation produces, and think that this one is an especially fine production.  We are fortunate to have writers and editors like Leon Metz and Nancy Hamilton in El Paso, as well as talented book designers!"

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation – Gail C. Warden, CFRE, Director of Development –

“Our library is a busy place used extensively by architects, apprentices, scholars and our many volunteers.  The book is a welcomed addition and will be appreciated by all of these people.”

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