About Us

Barney Lantry, an Irish immigrant born in 1833, was the ultimate founder of what is now known as Sharp & Fellows, Inc. As a young boy, Mr. Lantry moved to America and settled in Wisconsin. There he learned stonecutting and masonry, where he quickly became a foreman in the trade. In 1877, Lantry acquired his first contract with the Santa Fe railroad. He would go on to help them in constructing masonry bridges from Chicago to El Paso. After years of success and helping the railroads’ expansions, Barney’s sons, Henry E. and Charles J. L. Lantry, would eventually join him in business. Their firm became known as B. Lantry & Sons. As the development of the west began to hit a fastmoving stride, the Lantry organization held extensive contracts to push the Santa Fe railroad westward. By 1890, their firm had construction activities underway from Chicago to Los Angeles and San Francisco; from Kansas to Colorado and south into Texas. Their work covered bridges of all types, grading, roundhouses, depots, and various buildings as well as the actual laying of the ties and setting of the rails, across which huge diesel and steam engines were destined to carry the material and people and oftentimes the life of a nation. 

In 1892, Barney Lantry could look with satisfaction upon the work he had done and the great business he had established, and it was in this year that he turned the management of the company over to his two sons. Henry E. and Charles J. L. Lantry would go on successfully running the firm and eventually partnered with a man named Henry H. Sharp. Mr. Sharp was well and favorably known in the railroad contracting industry. He created an esteemed reputation for himself, as did the Lantry Brothers. In 1904, the consolidation of Sharp and Lantry took place and thus formed one of the strongest and largest contracting firms in the country, known as Lantry-Sharp Contracting Company. This firm was a leading factor in the development of the vast country lying between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. 

Lantry-Sharp remained successful during their partnership, carrying out business all over Illinois, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Iowa, Kansas City, and Missouri. In 1905, however; Mr. sharp assumed sole ownership of the company and it became known as C. H. Sharp Contracting Company. The Panic of 1907 created a period of financial and economic unrest for most of the nation. The Sharp Company was one of only a few which continued to carry on any great amount of construction work. On top of major interstate railroads having to be rebuilt at the time, Mr. Sharp was also able to obtain a $10,000,000 contract to build new lines that shortened the distance from Los Angeles to Houston and Galveston. 

It has always been, and remains, the policy of the company to keep pace with the times. Charles H. Sharp recognized this in a time when the industrial development of America was hitting its stride. He saw that mechanizing the company with modernized technology was the best course of action in keeping up with the rapidly expanding society of pre-World War I. In 1910, The C. H. Sharp Contracting Company had obtained many contracts that would require them to carry out business for the next several years. At this point, Charles A. Fellows entered the picture. Charles A. Fellows had been carrying on contracts for the Santa Fe Railroad since 1896, and had built himself a long time reputation as an outstanding building contractor. Much like all the previous partners and owners of Barney Lantry’s original firm, Charles A. Fellows transferred his operations from all over America to eventually land himself in Southern California. Both Fellows’ company and the Sharp Company had been working closely together for many years before deciding to consolidate their efforts and become known as the Sharp and Fellows Contracting Company, the name which endures to the present day.