When Thrasher Engineering first got its start exactly 30 years ago, a still relatively green H. Wood “Woody” Thrasher was soaking in all the advice he could from his father, the late Henry A. Thrasher. After both decided to leave as employees of Hornor Brothers Engineers and start their own firm focusing on infrastructure, Woody Thrasher said he couldn’t have imagined where the firm is headed today.

 

“Never, ever in my wildest dreams did I ever estimate that this would happen,” Thrasher said. “I’m not sure if my father would approve of it or not, but here we are.”

 

To know exactly where Thrasher Engineering is heading, the context of where the company has been is critical. To go from son and pop to West Virginia’s largest privately owned engineering firm didn’t just happen by accident.

 

After starting out in a building over the old Hagan’s Ice Cream in Clarksburg, the fledgling company moved to offices on Hickman Street in the same city. It started as three employees and eventually outgrew the location in downtown Clarksburg. From there, Thrasher Engineering moved to the Business & Technology Centre – which is now owned by Thrasher Holdings – where it continued to grow .

 

Today, Thrasher said the company employs roughly 260 employees – about 150 at the hub location in Clarksburg – in six locations in three states. Because of that, the firm headed by a long-time Bridgeport resident is moving again. This time, Thrasher Engineering is locating along Interstate 79 to the White Oaks Business Park of which Woody Thrasher is the lead in that development as well.

“We’re moving because we ran out of space,” said Thrasher. “It’s really as simple as that. I can tell you for sure I hope this is the last move.”

 

For those who think the move from the Business Centre to White Oaks won’t be happening for a while, they would be wrong. The new, 40,000 square foot Thrasher Engineering offices will be up and running by September. And it’s not a deadline that Woody Thrasher wants to meet; it’s one he has to meet.

 

“This is on the super-fast track and we have a really ambitious schedule. We’ve already broken ground,” Thrasher said of the new offices that will be located just beyond Steptoe & Johnson. “Certainly, we want to do this as quickly as possible, but our move out of the Technology Centre won’t be leaving a building empty. We need to be out of there due to the expansion of Stockmeier Urethanes.”

 

Stockmeier Urethanes is located next to Thrasher’s current offices at the business park just off of U.S. Route 50. The fact that company was looking to expand at the time Thrasher was in a position of needing to relocate “couldn’t have worked out better.” Already Stockmeier has come to terms to acquire the Thrasher property and buildings for $1.85 million.

Thrasher said the new headquarters of his company will hopefully meet all future growth needs. He also said it will allow his company to show off some of the work it does just by taking clients through the White Oaks development.

 

“We still focus largely on water and sewage and a new building can’t really showcase that or the other buildings we’ve been involved with at White Oaks. But, we still do site development and we have a growing architectural department (under partner Craig Baker) and we can showcase those talents to our clients,” Thrasher said.

 

As he contemplates what all is about to take place and what’s actually taking place, Thrasher said he wonders what his father would think. And in his mind’s eye, he may not know what his father would say, but he’s got a good idea he could see his reaction before he said it.

 

“I’m pretty sure he’d sit back and have that pipe in his mouth and hesitate a bit before he said anything. He always told me that if you don’t know the answer to a question immediately or how to answer a question and you just sit there, people might think you look foolish. But, he said if you sit back and have that pipe in your mouth, you look thoughtful,” Thrasher said, recalling with a laugh about his father’s trademark pipe. “I think he would be pleased.”

 

Editor's Note: Top and bottom photos show work being done to prep the site for the new Thrasher Engineering office, while the middle photo is off Woddy Thrasher at the White Oaks development.