A.J. Staub Jr. and W.G. Stewart opened Staub-Stewart Hardware Company on this site on July 18, 1924. In 1941, Joseph Edwin Staub, a hardware clerk, convinced the owners to allow him to form J. E. Staub & Company, a construction company. He believed that a company's integrity and reputation were vitally important to its success. Itawamba's returning World War II veterans made up the core of the company's workforce, and these veterans and their descendants became project superintendents. After acquiring several businesses, the company was renamed JESCO, Inc. in 1973. Thousands of people from this area have been employed by JESCO, and Joseph Edwin Staub's 1941 vision of building a quality construction company in one of the poorest counties in the nation was realized through the efforts and work ethics of many generations of Itawambians.