The Mississippi Valley Branch of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) traces its beginnings to March 1925 when a group of levee contractors met in Memphis, Tennessee and formed a levee division within the Memphis Chapter of AGC. The levee division remained actively affiliated with the Memphis Chapter until June 1, 1928 when AGC officially chartered the levee division as the Mississippi Valley Flood Control Branch. This followed the devastating Great Flood of 1927 and passage of the Flood Control Act of 1928 by the U.S. Congress authorizing the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) Flood Control Project. The Branch’s current name was adopted in 2001.
Among those individuals who led the effort to organize a levee division and chapter were: S. K. Jones of S. K. Jones Construction Company; A. F. (Frank) Stanford and Blair Lowrance of Lowrance Brothers and Company; Arthur J. Shea of the Canal Construction Company and H. N. Rodgers of H. N. Rodgers and Company. These individuals were also instrumental in having the Chapter incorporated in 1931.