Milestones

George Washington was still president when Foster Farrar Co. opened in 1796, just prior to John Adams taking office as the nation’s second president. The business started out selling blacksmith supplies near its current location in Northampton, Massachusetts. Today, it …

Jack’s Country Store began operating in 1885 as part of a deal its founder, J.A. Morehead, made with the owner of a stagecoach line, which used the beach as a roadway, according to Jack’s president Tom Downer. Morehead originally opened …

The COVID-19 pandemic derailed initial plans for celebrating the 100th anniversary of Frager’s Hardware & Garden Center, the longest continuously operating hardware store in Washington, D.C. Determined not to let the centennial pass by without recognition, the store staff organized …

Melissa Brett and her husband John have owned Welden Hardware for 15 years, but the business has been in operation in Simsbury, Connecticut, for 130 years. Late last year, the Bretts and their store manager started brainstorming ways to celebrate …

When August Trilling, a first-generation German immigrant, opened a general store in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1850, he had no idea what the future would hold for his business, later named Trilling Hardware. Since its founding, the 167-year-old company has been …

The store is located on a busy street downtown in New Braunfels, Texas, and it’s unmistakably from another era. If you walk through Henne Hardware’s door, you will see that you can buy the essential hardware products you’d expect of …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. By Todd Taber ttaber@nrha.org, Kate Klein kklein@nrha.org, and Renee Changnon rchangnon@nrha.org. Independent home improvement retailers have, literally and figuratively, helped build America, and at least one existing operation predates the …

Taking a leap of faith can be a big risk, but when you’re chasing your dreams, it’s worth it, say Joe and Leah Van Walbeek. The couple reopened Akron Lumber Co. in Akron, Iowa, this past May. Over the weekend, …