Named for the nine men who made Springfield the capital.

In 1837 the capital of Illinois was still Vandalia, and seven towns wanted it. Sangamon County sent nine men down to bring it home to Springfield, so tall together that people measured them at fifty-four feet and called them the Long Nine. They lost the first ballot, then the second, then the third, and on the fourth they won with 73 votes, exactly the number they needed. Among them was a 28-year-old named Lincoln, who went out the next morning and picked up his license to practice law. Two years later the state moved to Springfield, and it has been here ever since.

Lincoln is the one everyone remembers. But before he was anything else, he was one of nine people from here who decided their town deserved better and kept at it until it did, and his first recorded toast was to the eight who did it with him. We named the company for all nine, not just the one, because nothing that lasts gets built by one person. And because we think Springfield deserves better again. We build here on purpose, one house at a time, to help make it a place to be proud of.

Kevin Gates, Owner

I grew up in Nanafalia, Alabama, a small, poor town where if you didn't know how to fix something, there was no one to call. My dad could fix anything, a house one week and a diesel engine the next, and he let me tag along for all of it. I've been taking things apart and putting them back together ever since.

I studied engineering at the University of Florida and spent twelve years in a leadership role at a large company, where I learned how exceptional people can be when you accept nothing less than their best. Through all of it, I wanted to build houses. I had wanted to since I was a kid tagging along with my dad, and when the chance came, I took it. Family brought me to Springfield, and that's where I started Long Nine. A house takes a lot of good people doing the right thing, and it's worth getting right the first time.

My grandfather served in the military. He taught me to treat people with respect and to expect their best, and that's how I try to lead. Demanding, never demeaning. On a Long Nine job I ask a lot of everyone, myself included, and nobody gets talked down to. In the end, it's the people on the job who make the difference. The pride a crew takes in its work is what makes a house worth living in, and the family that moves into one of ours deserves nothing less.