Hilltop Companies

Hilltop Basic Resources, Inc. was founded in Cincinnati in 1941 by I.W. and Katherine D. Steele as a building materials and ready mixed concrete supplier. In 1949, Hilltop expanded into the Dayton, Ohio market and during the 1950's Hilltop became the largest ready mixed concrete producer in the state of Ohio with 14 plants. The building materials business called for a large investment of cash with low returns, so in 1957 Hilltop divested that portion of the business. At about the same time a decision was made to expand into the aggregates business in order to ensure a quality supply of materials for Hilltop's ready mixed concrete. Hilltop eventually acquired three sand and gravel plants in the Dayton area. Additionally, in 1965, Hilltop opened its largest aggregates plant in Patriot, Indiana to serve internal needs on the river. In 1970 Hilltop began to supply aggregates from that facility to outside customers. In the mid 1960's Hilltop exited the ready mixed concrete business. It was a capital intensive business, with excess capacity in the market and significant labor issues. In 1977, Hilltop divested its last ready mixed concrete plant. That division sold truck and plant equipment to the ready mixed concrete industry, as well as municipal equipment.