Following his relocation to Denver, Colorado in 1952, Mel Elward started his first business as an independent manufacture’s sales representative.

The Mel Elward Company, Inc. was first incorporated business, hiring the first two employees, Ev Mitchell and Gene Frisk.

Incorporated Elward Construction Company, Inc. and began to install products sold.

Installed our first unitized panel system for the Denver Convention Center. Hanging 4,000 lb Corten steel panels into place. 1968 also marks the year operations moved to 1310 W Jewel, the first Elward-owned facility.

Entered the market designing, fabricating and installing glass and glazing curtain wall systems.

Elward, Inc. was incorporated combining the functions of the The Mel Elward Company (material sales and engineering) and Elward Construction Company (installation); Elward only sold products to be installed by Elward.

Mel Elward attended a trade show and was introduced to Alucobond. Opened a sales and construction office in Phoenix, Arizona.

Sold and installed the first Alucobond system project, Dairyland Insurance in Denver. Project was installed using a Continuous Edge Grip (CEG) extrusion system featuring dry joinery.

Leased space to house an Alucobond material fabrication plant.

Invested $250,000 in the first generation of two Computer Aided Design (CAD) stations.

Opened a sales and construction office in Dallas, Texas. Opened a facility for fabricating our own designed granite wall systems at 200 Rio Grande Blvd, Denver, Colorado.

Entered the fabrication and installation of unitized wall system featuring Granite Cygnus Panels.

Built and moved operations to present day facilities at 620 and 680 Harlan St, Lakewood, Colorado.

Opened a sales and construction office in San Francisco, California.

Second generation of the Elward family incorporated Elward Construction Co, Inc.

Elward Systems Corporation is incorporated with a mission to sell our own engineered fabricated product to other installers.
Closed offices in Dallas and San Francisco.

Developed and tested the first generation of the Rout and Return Dry System (DRY) to AAMA 501 standards. Sold the first fabricated project to a non-Elward company for installation, Kaiser Data Center, Los Angeles, California.

Developed and tested the High Performance Rout and Return Dry System (DRY) to pass AAMA 501 standards at an unprecedented level, setting the bar for panel performance at 15 psf for static and dynamic water testing.

Filed and obtained several U.S. Patents for the panel systems.

Elward, Inc. is liquidated and Mel Elward officially retires.

Elward Systems Corporation is purchased as a wholly owned subsidiary of Elward Construction Co, Inc.

Started construction of our Testing Laboratory, building the first 2 ½ story chamber for testing per AAMA 501.

Elward Construction Co., Inc. is sold to employees as an ESOP.

Elward Construction Co., Inc. exits the commercial construction market in Colorado. Elward System Corporation is the dominate entity providing engineering and fabrication services and products to a variety of customers in the Western United States.

Purchased a Pratt & Whitney 2800-99W airplane engine for testing dynamic water per AAMA 501.1 standards.

Elward Construction Co., Inc. sells assets of sales and construction in Phoenix, Arizona.

Elward Systems Corporation enters into single largest ever engineering and fabrication project for the LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal.
Elward Systems Corporation enters into an agreement with Trespa NA to fabricate and distribute Trespa HPL panel systems.

Built our second test chamber, made for testing per AAMA 508 and 509 standards.

Developed and tested the Pressure Equalized Rainscreen System (PER) to pass AAMA 508 standards.

Developed and tested the Spline Rainscreen System (SRS) to AAMA 509 standards, achieving a V3/W1 classification.

Developed and tested the Drained and Back Ventilated Rainscreen (BVR) to AAMA 509 standards, achieving a V5/W1 classification.

Elward Systems Corporation enters into an agreement with Swisspearl to fabricate and distribute fabricated cement composite panel systems.