… with all those cones and barricades pushing their orange and white shoulders at you, you might pause to wonder
Who’s Bob?
No? Well, I did and thought you might like a story to mull over as you sit
in the traffic that Bob’s Barricades seem to create but really, just delineate.
It’s hard not to notice the name “Bob’s Barricades” when it’s stickered on hundreds of bright orange barrels lining Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. A commenter on the Nextdoor app posted that Bob must be doing well for himself. Good point, except the owner’s name is Happy.
Edward “Happy” Alter bought the company in 1975 with partner Alan Chesler. Chesler died in 2024. The men bought the company from James Ryder, who had bought the company from Bob, or Robert Brownlee.
Brownlee started the company in 1967. He was a patrol sergeant for the Metro-Dade Police Department. He told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1992 that he got the idea when working for $2.50 an hour as an off-duty police officer at a construction site.
“I would see the trucks pull up to the job site with the barricades loaded in the back,” Brownlee said. “I thought that’s a good business. I went home and made one in my backyard. It wasn’t perfect, but it was okay.”
It was Brownlee’s idea to stick his name and number on all the barricades, so he’d never have to advertise. Brownlee died in January.
Bob Brownlee was a man who loved life. Read more about him and his family in the Naples edition of Florida Weekly.
The Historical Society of Sarasota County 