There was company back in the 70s that started making lightweight wastewater manholes out of fiberglass. The place was down south of Houston. The product was excellent for the site conditions down in that part of the world.

A very simple to use product. We laid our pipe straight on thru where a manhole went and kept going. The manholes were built for the exact height required and numbered so all we did was cut little doghouse doors where each pipe went. This was done with an abrasive wheel saw, that we call quickie saws. We could do all this well ahead of time.

When you had several locations ready to go, we’d order a truck load of concrete and go around the jobsite dumping an ample amount in each hole, then level it out. Before the concrete started to setup, we’d take an excavator and set the fiberglass manholes in place. The weight of unit would sink into the concrete, making a good watertight seal.

They were lightweight enough that the really short ones could even be placed by hand, using a few guys.

It was nothing to set a dozen manholes in a matter of an hour or so. Far faster than casting a floor of concrete, waiting until it dried then stack up concrete sections, which were heavy and time consuming to construct.

We thought that was just about the best thing to come along. Every aspect was better, the ease of constructing and the shipping costs were much better. The fiberglass was a much better and longer lasting product than concrete.

We used a few of these around the Austin area, but they never caught on here like they did in Houston, Dallas and along the Texas Coast.

Never will forget the salesman, Peter Popkin. (He was also the owner of the company) I always thought that I could sell those things. They pretty well sold themselves, and were the only one selling them at the time. The company was The Marque Corporation, out of La Marque, Tx. They had an exclusive deal with Owens-Corning, the fiberglass giant in the business.

Now I bet you are wondering why I went into such detail talking about manholes and such. So I’ll get to the point.

When Peter Popkin walked up on the job the first time, he handed me a business card that was printed on a very thin sheet of fiberglass looking material, that looked very much like the surface of his manholes. And they were durable, too.

When I complimented him on the uniqueness of his business card, he said “well just wait until that concrete manhole salesman shows up and hands you one of his new business cards !”