Seven decades of continuous, locally-owned and operated service in Colorado. Over 25,000 successful projects. An unwavering commitment to quality, delivered on-time and within budget, one project at a time. These are the cornerstones upon which Colorado-based Drexel, Barrell & Co. has built our reputation for excellence. Since 1949, public and private sector clients have trusted us to provide land surveying, geomatics, and mapping. In 1964, we added civil engineering, and in 1993 transportation, traffic, and water resources engineering.
1973 Drexel Barrell survey on display in the Roadhouse Boulder Depot restaurant, a repurposing of the historic Boulder Train Depot built in 1890. Drexel Barrell provided this survey after the building's relocation from downtown to the original Boulder County Fairgrounds site on the northwest corner of 30th and Pearl. In 2008, the depot moved for the second time to the current location in Boulder Junction, a few blocks east. We started as surveyors in 1949 and land surveying, geomatics, and related services are still an integral part our business today.
Drexel Barrell began as Frank Drexel Surveying in Boulder in 1949. During the 1970's, our offices were at 1425 Pearl Street, at what is now the east end of the Pearl Street Mall (our offices were in the taller building on the right side of photo). Frank was assigned to the Army Signal Corps in World War II, and after the war he applied his Army training and experience to the profession of land surveying. His aptitude, skills, and drive rapidly earned him the reputation as one of Colorado's most knowledgeable and experienced land surveyors.
Our employees are highly trained and experienced professionals who are recognized leaders in their technical disciplines. Individual qualifications include the Professional Engineer (P.E.) and Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) licenses. Both licenses are granted by the State of Colorado after examination and proof of the required education, qualifications, and experience. Generally, this includes a four year technical degree, at least four years of discipline-relevant experience, and passing both the E.I (Engineering Intern) or LSIT (Land Surveyor in Training) and P.E. or PLS exams.
We opened our Greeley office in 1997 in response to client insistence that we have a presence in Weld County. Since then, Drexel Barrell has completed over 1,400 projects for Greeley and Weld County public and private sector clients. In 2010, Drexel Barrell acquired the complete survey records of long-time Greeley surveyor McRae and Short when this venerable firm closed. Combined with Drexel Barrell′s already extensive survey files, we have the most comprehensive collection of surveys, plats, and monumentation in northeastern Colorado.
In the 1960's, Charles Gates (owner of the Gates Rubber Company) retained Drexel Barrell to provide engineering and surveying for his 3,500-acre Cheyenne Mountain Ranch master-planned community at the base of Cheyenne Mountain. This project led us to open a Colorado Springs office in 1971 and kept us busy for nearly three decades. Together with our 1988 boundary survey, annexation plat, and zoning map of the 24,000-acre Banning Lewis Ranch (which doubled the land area of the City of Colorado Springs), the two projects established Drexel Barrell as first among equals in El Paso County.