Why MG West? | History
After digging out of the rubble of the 1906 earthquake and fire, Monroe G. West saw an opportunity of a lifetime and immediately became involved in the rebuilding of most of San Francisco’s financial and legal institutions. City and county offices had been gutted, and the new MG West Company, which opened in 1905 as a manufacturer’s representative of heavy steel lifting jacks, safes and vaults, helped rebuild their financial and legal document storage facilities.
The company prospered through World War I and World War II until the Depression considerably cooled the office furniture business. MG West became involved in the government- sponsored building programs of the time and examples of the enduring quality of the firm’s storage concepts can be seen in the stacks of the Hoover Library at Stanford University and at the Life Science Library at UC Berkeley. Additionally, the document storage facilities of most of the Federal Reserve banks in the western United States were designed and installed by MG West during this period.
MG West remained a family business for three generations and in 1985 was purchased by Donald Sullivan who is the current CEO. Carrying on the legacy of excellence and the family tradition is the president of MG West, Andrew Sullivan.