370 A BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI PHOTO COURTESY OF IVEY MECHANICAL IVEY MECHANICAL Ivey’s Plumbing and Electrical Company was founded in 1947 by Kermit Ivey in Kosciusko. The small repair shop focused on residential and small commercial construction. In 1958, the founder’s son, Marlin, joined the partnership with his father. The partnership was based upon an agreement to shift the marketing focus from residential to commercial projects. During the 1960s, the company was a major player in mechanical construction throughout the state of Mississippi. The name Ivey’s Plumbing and Electrical Company was changed in 1969 to Ivey’s, Inc., shortly after Kermit Ivey’s death. In the early 1970s, Ivey’s took a new direction when the local markets dried up. They secured a major project with the federal government for barracks work at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi. Marlin Ivey began to shape the company’s philosophy of going where the work was, which eventually led to opening offices throughout the Southeast. Through the mid-1970s, Ivey’s work was approximately 90 percent government related. By the later part of the decade, government work slowed. Ivey’s was positioned to move toward private hospital contracting. In 1990, J. Marlin Ivey stepped down as Board Chairman and his son, Joe Ivey, took over controls of what had become one of the largest mechanical contractors in the country. The daily operations were managed by President Larry Terrell. During the 1990s, the company grew in revenue from $50 million to over $140 million. Today the company operates under the leadership of both Larry and Denny Terrell and still does so under the name of Ivey Mechanical Company, LLC.