History

Munro is a privately held, family operated company with over 100 years and five generations in business. We are proud of our history and we believe it has made us the company we are today.

THE EARLY YEARS, IN RIFLE, CO

In 1900 Fred Munro opened the first Munro Mercantile store in Rifle, CO. Over the next 35 years, Fred and his son, JR, expanded Munro Mercantile to five locations throughout Western Colorado.

After surviving the Great Depression and the stock market crash of 1929, Fred continued to operate Munro Mercantile. Meanwhile, JR and his son Jack partnered with their associate, Mr. DG Son, to open S & M Supply, a mining supply house, in 1936. Jack, an engineer, brought valuable knowledge learned while working for the Bureau of Reclamation.

WESTERN COLORADO’S ENERGY ECONOMY

During World War II, when new mining equipment was not being produced, S & M Supply’s focus became reclamation of mining equipment left from the gold and silver rushes of the late 1800s. S & M Supply furnished operating mines with the refurbished equipment. Between WWII and the uranium boom in the 1950s, S & M Supply became an important mining supplier and was one of the largest mine supply companies in the Western United States. As the uranium boom began to dwindle in the late 1950s, the Munro family began to focus their business on moving and managing water.

MOVING AND MANAGING WATER

Jack and his son, Allen, opened Munro Supply in 1965. Specializing in pumps and related equipment, Munro Supply quickly became recognized as a pump authority in the Colorado region. By 1972, Munro moved into manufacturing, when we began engineering and fabricating pump stations, and in 1985 the first line of Munro lawn pumps went into production.

Today, Allen Munro and his daughter, Katie Munro Powell, have honed Munro’s mission and focus to serve the irrigation industry by developing and bringing to market professional-grade, problem solving products.

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