Pappas Industries. Inc is a Pappas Family owned company with its heritage dating back to the ownership of Suffolk Downs and  the Gloria food chain that originated in a Boston’s North End District, with the ownership and development of numerous retail and industrial properties in the South Boston and surrounding area. In the 1910s’, the late Pappas Family immigrated to the United States. The family spent their early years in the Somerville area, where they also owned food stores. The late Pappas’ had seven children and resided in Belmont MA, before moving to Milton MA. In the 1920s’, John C, Pappas was appointed to the executive committee of the Massachusetts Democratic Party; then In 1933 he was appointed assistant secretary to Governor Joseph Ely. In 1935, he was appointed a special justice of the Gloucester District Court. Pappas and his brother Thomas took over their father's chain of neighborhood food stores in 1936. The two brothers then found themselves leading a successful import business and a liquor distributorship and were the largest importer of Spanish olives in the United States. The Pappas family had ties in Greece, they financed oil refineries, chemical plants, and steel mills in Greece under the name Esso Pappas. The business grew to owning 8 oil tankers. By 1965.On May 1, 1946, a consortium led by The Pappas’ acquired controlling interest in Suffolk Downs. The Pappas’ were Suffolk Downs' chairman from 1946 to 1948 and was president of the racetrack from 1948 until he sold it in 1964. In the 1960s, The Pappas’ then branched out into real estate development the family funded the construction of apartments in Boston's South End and Kenmore Square. The Pappas family was at the forefront of the construction of White Plains Plaza in New York, a 15-story office building that was leased quickly upon completion. White Plains soon became a premier location for corporations and the Pappas family. The family now focuses solely on the public contracting construction needs based in Massachusetts, as well as New England.