How did Terramite start?
Kelly Cunningham, inventor and founder of Terramite, worked with his brother, IV Cunningham. IV Cunningham was the owner of Mountain State Construction, one of the largest construction companies East of the Mississippi in the 1960s. Mountain State Construction did bridges, interstates and tunneling work. These tunnels were from 4′ to 24′ in size. Kelly Cunningham made the tunneling machines, called “shields”. Kelly mounted one of the digging parts of a small shield to a two wheel drive walk behind Gravely tractor. This machine worked very well. People who saw the machine wanted one. So, in 1965, Kelly Cunningham started Diesel Services & Sales. DS&S was in the business of selling Perkins Diesel engines for repower and replacement. But, the demand for mini-backhoes far exceeded the sales of diesel engines. So, DS&S changed to The Terramite Corporation. See our History Page for more details.
