The company began as L.S. Lee and Son, owned by Louis Stockton Lee and her son, Cebern Lee.  Cebern Lee’s grandfather originally started manufacturing concrete pipe in Montour Falls, NY.  When Cebern’s grandfather died in 1920, he and his mother decided to move their pipe operation to Oaks Corners, NY to begin manufacturing New York State accepted concrete products.  At the time, New York required special approved aggregates and Oaks Corners provided a sand pit and limestone quarry that were both state approved.

One of the concrete products the company manufactured was a triangular concrete post that was used as a guide post along shoulders of the road.  The Department of Public Works then decided to put a hole in the concrete post, insert and eyebolt and pass a cable through the eye.   That was the first guide railing ever used in the State of New York!  Mr. Lee felt that L.S. Lee & Son could install them as well as manufacture them, and that was his initial start in the guide railing business.

Following the end of World War II, Cebern Lee was invited to be a judge at a sailing Olympics.  Another judge at the event was George Elder, a sailboat manufacturer from New Jersey.  Lee and Elder became good friends and decided to form a company to build wooden sailboats in Oaks Corners.

By combing the last two names, they started making sailboats under the name of Elderlee, Inc – one of their most famous being the “Elderlee Star.”  In addition, they made baseball bats, rolling pins, oars, paddles, and other kinds of wooden products.  They were not in the wooden sailboat business too many years, when it began to decline due to the evolution of the fiberglass hull.  Elderlee exited the wood products marketplace and focused on steel manufacturing and specialty contracting.

The massive highway building programs of the late 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s provided L.S. Lee & Son the opportunity to subcontract their guardrail installation services to H.J. Williams Company, Inc., a heavy and highway contractor from York, PA.  This long term relationship was the catalyst for the 1973 purchase of both Elderlee, Inc. and L.S. Lee & Son by the owner of H.J. Williams, Robert E. Hirschman from the Estate of Cebern Lee.

With the decline of the heavy highway construction market in the 70’s, H.J. Williams Company, Inc. was sold in 1984, and a dedicated focus towards specialty contracting and manufacturing emerged. 

Today, Elderlee, Inc. and L.S. Lee, Inc. operate as divisions of REH Holdings, Inc. and specialize in the manufacturing and installation of highway safety products. 

Elderlee’s Construction Division is adept at the installation of highway guiderails, bridge rails, pedestrian rail, impact attenuators, traffic signs, and overhead sign structures.  When combined with resources from sister company L.S. Lee, Inc., Elderlee will perform work from New York to South Carolina. 

The Steel Fabrication Division is AISC certified, and manufactures various products for the highway safety market, including box beam guardrail, bridge rail, guardrail posts, bridge mount and overhead sign structures, and pedestrian handrail systems.  Elderlee also inventories and distributes approved guardrail systems for various applications. 

Elderlee’s Galvanizing Division operates one of New York State’s largest hot-dip galvanizing tanks at 38.5 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 6 feet deep, holding 500,000 pounds of molten zinc heated to 800 degrees Fahrenheit.  This gives the company the ability to galvanize a variety of shapes and sizes for the highway construction, commercial, and private markets.

The Sign Manufacturing Division at Elderlee produces various types of traffic signs, custom signs, and decals for the public and private sectors.  The division manufactures permanent guide signs, interstate signs, overhead signs, ground mount signs, and warning, regulatory, or directional signs.  Elderlee’s specialists are also able to design and create custom signs tailored to customer requirements. 

Elderlee, Inc. is continuously improving its operations to offer customers an exceptional experience based on its guiding principles of Quality, Service, Integrity, and Safety.  The company strives to maintain the reputation our founders have built, and look forward to serving new customers with every capability of our organization.