Henry Craig Morrison, secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Morrison Lee Mining & Development Company, president of the Contract Waterproofing Company and also secretary of the Arkansas Mining & Mercantile Company, has won a most creditable position in business circles in St. Louis, his native city. He was born July 22, 1888, and is a son of John W. Morrison of St. Louis, whose birth occurred in Georgetown, Kentucky, and who comes of an old family of English lineage. The first representatives of the name landed at Plymouth during the early colonization of Massachusetts, and for a century the. family was represented in Kentucky before John W. Morrison became a resident of St. Louis. Here he entered prominently into the business life of the city as a member of the dry goods firm of Hargardine McKittrick & Company. He wedded Mary Elizabeth Sparks, who was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and is a daughter of Mitchell Sparks, who belonged to one of the old families of Arkansas that settled at Fort Smith prior to the Civil war. Mrs. Morrison is still a resident of St. Louis.
In the schools of his native city Henry Craig Morrison pursued his education until he had completed a course in the Central high school and later he attended the Rolla School of Mines, from which he was graduated in 1913 with the degree of Mining Engineer. He then started out on his business career as engineer with the Sandusky Portland Cement Company and after a period spent in Chicago was stationed in St. Louis, representing that company until 1917, when he established business on his own account, organizing the Contract Waterproofing Company. They do engineering and contract work of a most important character and their business has steadily developed. Mr. Morrison is also the general manager of the Morrison-Lee Mining & Development Company and both corporations have offices in the Railway Exchange building. In the former connection Mr. Morrison’s specialty is construction waterproofing and a list of his big contracts would be such length as to preclude mention in a work of this character. Among the many notable contracts accorded him, however, were those for the building of the basements and lower portions of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway depot at Chicago, in which city he also did the work on the office building of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and the Boyce building on Dearborn street. He also received the contract for the concrete work for the Missouri state penitentiary at Jefferson City, Missouri, for St. John’s Hospital, the Boatmen’s Bank building, the Arcade building, the city jail, the Valhalla Mausoleum and the Anheuser-Busch reservoir at St. Louis. He has developed his powers and ability to the highest point of efficiency and skill, his work of this character bringing him deserved eminence and success. He is also promoting business interests of importance as general manager of the Morrison Lee Mining & Development Company and through his connection with the Arkansas Mining & Mercantile Company.
On the 12th of March, 1916, Mr. Morrison was married in Louisville, Kentucky, to Miss Medora Sparks, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, a daughter of George T. Sparks, the president of the First National Bank of Fort Smith.
Mr. Morrison is a democrat in his political views but maintains largely an independent policy, voting without regard to party ties if his judgment so dictates. A Presbyterian in religious faith he has membership in the Westminster church of St. Louis. He belongs also to the Automobile Club, to the Missouri Athletic Association and to the Chamber of Commerce and is keenly interested in all that has to do with the progress and welfare of the city, supporting all interests of civic value and worth. He gains his recreation largely from motoring and greatly enjoys making extended tours in this way. His has been, however, a busy and active life and his high efficiency and usefulness in the line of his chosen profession have brought him prominently to the front.
