Part of our heritage at Marc Dutton Irrigation, Inc. comes from our acquisition in 1988 of the John A. Brooks Company, which was the oldest operating lawn sprinkler installation firm in the world.
Founded in 1915, the John A. Brooks Company was the first to successfully develop, install and market in-ground lawn sprinkling systems in the world.
The company’s founder, John A. Brooks (1871–1958), was awarded numerous patents for early irrigation innovations including 1,192,743, on July 25, 1916 for a "lawn sprinkling means", an early ancestor of today’s modern pop-up lawn sprinklers. In 1926, he patented a clock-actuated sprinkler system launching the era of truly modern systems.
Clients of the Brooks Company read like a who’s who of early modern Detroit: Henry Ford, S.S. Kresge, the Dodge brothers, and other leading industrialists. The Brooks Company perfected installations for local municipal and commercial sites including Roosevelt Park, the entrance lawn to the grand Michigan Central Train Depot.
The company developed a national reputation and supervised installation of irrigation systems for Central Park in New York, the United States Capital in Washington, DC, and Grant Park in Chicago. Franchise dealers were established throughout the country from Los Angeles to the Palm Beach area.
Early Brooks employees became innovators in their own right. Company secretary Max Snoddy later founded Texas Lawn Sprinkler Company (TELSCO), manufacturer of the Weathermatic brand in Dallas.
In 1988, Marc Dutton Irrigation was called upon by the University of Michigan to help restore the 1926 Brooks system at Henry Ford’s home, Fairlane. The system had not been used in over 30 years, and was carefully restored by Dutton technicians. Several original sections are now part of an educational display for visitors.
Marc Dutton technicians continue to maintain many original Brooks systems in the Detroit area, many well over a half-century old. These serve as an important part of our history and an important illustration of the value of quality workmanship in creating lasting customer satisfaction.
> We invite our clients to visit our office and view the many different artifacts from the Brooks Company on display in our lobby area.
Margaret Hawkins prepared a complete history of the Brooks Company in 1990, titled "Rains Only Rival, The Story of John A. Brooks".