Translate Site Map

Daniel J. O'Connell Family and Companies

Many success stories begin with the tale of an immigrant. Such was the case with Daniel O'Connell who escaped the potato famine in Ireland by sailing to American in the early 1840s. He and his family settled in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where Daniel worked as a laborer on a dam being built across the Connecticut River. Daniel died shortly after, in a cholera epidemic, and his son Daniel became the family's sole supporter, working as a water boy on the same river.

From those humble beginnings, a successful career in construction was born. By 1878 Daniel had risen to the position of Superintendent of Streets in Holyoke. However, a newly elected mayor ordered Daniel to fire his men and replace them with the mayor's handpicked crew. Daniel refused, and was fired along with his men. He established O'Connell Construction that same day.

The new company's first job came the next day, when industrialist William Skinner, impressed with Daniel's integrity, hired him to pave the yard of the Skinner silk mill. Many other jobs followed, of buildings, bridges, roads, and reservoirs. Daniel retired 60 years later, and died in 1916 at the age of 87, still known for integrity and the quality of the company's work.

In 1926, the firm was incorporated as Daniel O'Connell's Sons, and today DOC is the largest construction company in Western Massachusetts. The corporation has diversified into various divisions such as O'Connell Engineering and Financial, Appleton Property Management, the O'Connell Energy Group, New England Fertilizer Company in Quincy, and the O'Connell Development Group.

Since its beginning, DOC has been known for success in technically challenging construction projects. According to the company's website, "We've gutted and rebuilt a four-lane bridge from the water up while traffic continued to travel across the bridge. We've quietly rebuilt a library around studying students, and replaced load-bearing walls in a high-rise building while it remained occupied."

"We are uniquely focused on planning and implementing our clients' most technically challenging projects. We also understand how to manage these complex projects while respecting the people, activities, and landscape surrounding our work."

The company has won accolades for projects such as the Bank of New England-West headquarters at Monarch Place, the Rowes Wharf project in Boston, and the reconstruction of the Memorial Bridge linking Springfield and West Springfield. Over the years, DOC has constructed much of the landscape of Western Massachusetts Ã' hospitals, colleges, grocery stores, highways, the Springfield Civic Center, a nuclear power plant, deluxe retirement communities, and Tower Square. Their most well-known recent project was the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The DOC tradition of integrity and unsurpassed excellence has continued over 100 years from Daniel O'Connell's maxim, "Know your business; build the best." The Daniel J. O'Connell family and companies are a welcome and appropriate addition to the Western Massachusetts Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.