History

1931. To start his engineering firm, Walter P. Moore sells a Stutz Bearcat he’s received in lieu of wages. The Great Depression is just entering its two worst years. The firm designs foundations for pricey River Oaks estates in Houston: $5 a client. Fast forward to today: River Oaks is pricier. Walter P Moore is global. And the asking price for a 1931 Stutz Bearcat at auction is $500,000. That’s history.

Success across eight decades as an engineering firm takes passion, expertise, and performance, good times or bad. From one individual to hundreds, one service to many, one building type to most types, one city to around the world—this is Walter P Moore’s story.  

Challenged to survive in the 1930s, we grew by cultivating lasting relationships with architects and clients. The world’s first major domed sports stadium, the Astrodome, put us on the national stage in 1965. Booming markets, advancing technology, and a determination to make great public spaces possible have kept us there.

We respond to opportunities. Structural engineering made us. We added Civil and Traffic engineering in the 1970s, as mass travel became the norm. As urbanization exploded, we developed our Diagnostics practice, followed by Technology Consulting. Similarly, our geographic boundaries in the U.S. began dissolving in the 1970s, first in Texas, then in the Southeast and Midwest, and more recently, from the Gulf Coast to America’s East and West coasts, and finally, internationally.

The opportunities presented to us by engineering possibilities continue to grow. How do we assess them?  In terms of how they can improve us as a team and as citizens of the world. This is why, we believe, our employees, clients, and peers in the design and building industry enjoy working with us.