United Concrete Pipe Corporation, Long Beach

United Concrete Pipe Corporation main construction was of main water pipeline lines, building concrete bridges, concrete roads, and foundations for buildings. United Concrete Pipe was established in 1919 in Ventura, California by Tom P. Polich. In 1924 Steve Krai and B. J. Ukropina became partners with Polich. Tom Polich was born on March 22, 1888 in Serbia and came to the US in 1905. Polich worked for a concrete company in Van Nuys, California before starting his own company. His first contact was installing a irrigation system in Tuttle, California. In the 1930s under the Works Progress Administration the company grew to nine plants and became a general contractor, not just a pipe company. Plants were in California, Texas and New Mexico. In 1953 the three started a new parallel joint venture Ukropina-Polich-Krai of San Gabriel, a general contractor company. United Concrete Pipe Corporation headquarters was at 85th St. and Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, California. One Works Progress Administration project was the Wawona Tunnel built in 1933. In 1937 United Concrete Pipe completed a Works Progress Administration project the Mad River Water Supply Project in Eureka, California. United Concrete Pipe Corporation last plant closed in 1994, at Riverside, California. ()