A History of The Victor L. Phillips Company
Serendipity in a Small Town
In late 1911, two young asphalt salesmen, Victor L. Phillips and W. C.
Jones met in the lobby of the Booth Hotel in Independence, Kansas. Phillips
was a representative for the Standard Asphalt and Rubber Company of Chicago.
Jones was a representative of American Asphalt Company of Chicago and
had been Phillips' chief competitor.
The two young men recognized that they were rich in ideas
and enthusiasm but short on capital, so they agreed their best bet was
to locate quality used equipment to re-sell on commission. Securing offices
in the R.A. Long Building, the two young men blended their knowledge of
salesmanship and the construction industry to found The Jones-Phillips
Company, predecessor to The Victor L. Phillips Company of today.
The pair soon learned that to succeed they would need to
expand into other markets and growing niches, which they did by traveling
widely by train to Chicago and other northern cities to arrange the sale
of concrete mixers and other equipment. Between Jones's doubts and the
grueling travel schedule, it was a tough time and there's no doubt that
the success of the young business can be squarely attributed to Phillips'
tireless efforts. Phillips worked doggedly to keep the young company going
and growing.
The turning point came during that first year when Phillips
put his engineering education to use and designed an asphalt kettle that
he had manufactured in a small blacksmith shop on East 15th Street in
Kansas City. The kettle was a very good one and well received by the trade.
That same year, the Jones-Phillips Co. exhibited at the 1912 Cement Show,
the first show of its kind.
 While
the business had moderate success, Jones continued to lose interest in
the new company and at the end of the first year, Phillips bought him
out, changing the name to The Victor L. Phillips Company.
Phillips realized the rapidly-growing automobile industry
would drive a boom in road building. He envisioned the enormous amount
of construction to be done...How could his fledgling company benefit?
Phillips began searching for someone to complement his own
ethics of hard work and found his man in W.R. "Ross" Wilson of Fort Wayne,
Indiana. Wilson soon became known as one of the best equipment salesmen
in the industry.
 After
a wobbly start, the young company was doing well. The company moved to
1509-11 Walnut. Business increased, more salesmen were hired. By the following
year the company had grown so much that they made another move to bigger
digs, this time at 7th and Delaware.
"The "L" in my name stands for Lucky."
The Victor L. Phillips Company became a dealer for Ingersoll-Rand in 1917.
In 1918 the company incorporated, naming Victor L. Phillips
as president, W. R. "Ross" Wilson as vice president and credit manager
N.A. Ashwell as secretary. Because of business expansion in 1925, the
company again moved to 1600 Baltimore Avenue where it remained for 34
years until September 1959 when it moved to its present headquarters at
4100 Gardner in the East Bottoms industrial area of Kansas City, Missouri.
The building was designed by Kansas City architectural firm Fullerton
& McCamis. IN 1964, VLP became a Case dealer.
Victor L. Phillips actively took part in the management
and operation of the company for 53 years as President until shortly before
his death in 1967. Harr C. Drum, L.J. Matsch, Glen A Weaver and Richard
L. Simpson succeeded Phillips as president.
In 1978 James W. Foreman purchased the dealership and opened
a new chapter in the history of the company. A "hands-on," "nuts-and-bolts"
kind of guy, Foreman served as both president and general manager.
From its small beginning in 1911, the company has grown
into one of the midwest's leading construction equipment dealers. Today
the firm covers Western Missouri and all of Kansas and has branches in
Garden City, Wichita, Topeka, Joplin,Springfield and its headquarters in Kansas City.
Read a biography of Victor L. Phillips.
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