S3614 Marshall-Wells Hardware Company. Timeline.
1886 - G.C. Greenwood and Company, Wholesale and Retail Hardware. George C. Greenwood, Edwin V. Mundy, and Arthur B. Chapin were listed as owners in
Duluth City Directory.
1887-88 - Duluth City Directory, the name of the business had been changed to A.B. Chapin & Company. Located at 406 West Superior Street, the business listed A.B. Chapin and Harry C. Crawford as owners.
1889-90 - City Directory, the name of the business had been changed again, this time to Chapin-Wells Hardware with A.B. Chapin as President; F.C. Stone, Vice President; and H.C. Crawford, Secretary.
1891 - B.E. Wells, President of Wells-Stone Mercantile Company (forerunner of Stone-Ordean-Wells Company) became Vice President of Chapin-Wells. A.B. Chapin
remained President, and H.C. Crawford stayed on as Secretary.
1892-93 - J.G. McPherson is listed as Secretary and Treasurer of Chapin-Wells.
March 1893 - Albert Morley Marshall from Saginaw, Michigan bought out Chapin's interest in the business.
May 30, 1893, the first meeting of stockholders of the company was held. From that meeting came the new name of the company: Marshall-Wells. The first officers of the company were: A.M. Marshall, President; B.E. Wells, Vice-President; J.B. McPherson, Treasurer; and F.W. Parsons, Secretary. The store was now located at 409-411 West Superior Street. (18)
1893 - a panic swept across the country. The New York Stock Exchange crashed. Many banks failed. Large railroads, such as the Reading, Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Santa Fe, went into receivership. The depression lasted until 1896.
Under these conditions, Marshall-Wells expanded to the West and North. (18)
Marshall-Wells first salesman was W.H. Close. According to old timers, his first
catalog was a scrapbook of clippings gleaned from factory catalogs. (18)
February 1895 - A.H. Comstock joined the company as Treasurer and an assistant to A.M. Marshall. (18)
April 6, 1901 - Marshall-Wells moved its operations from Fifth Avenue to South Lake Avenue. The new building, located at 251-319 Lake Avenue South, was constructed in two seven-story sections with double railroad tracks running between the
buildings and boat docks in the rear. (18)
1900 or 1901 - Winnipeg, Manitoba branch opened.
1901 or 1902 - Portland, Oregon branch opened.
1909 - Spokane, Washington branch was opened.
1910 - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada branch was opened. (17)
1905 - A.M. Marshall was President; A.H. Comstock, Vice President; H.C. Marshall (no relation to A.M.), Treasurer; and F.W. Parsons, Secretary. Members of the Board of Directors were: A.M. Marshall, A.H. Comstock, H.C. Marshall, F.W. Parsons, George C. Stone, A.W. Wright, W.P. Mars, H.D. Final, Harry Annis, Wallis C. Smith, and K.K. McLaren.
May 30, 1908 - F.W. Parsons, Secretary of the company, dies.
August 1908 - C.M. Rice was elected Secretary, and H.A. Sedgwick became
Treasurer. C.S. Parsons was elected Assistant Treasurer, with C. Powell Grady elected Assistant Secretary. (18)
1918 - took over business owned and operated by Dominion Stove and Foundry, Ltd. of Penetang, Ontario. (19)
1919 - constructed new warehouse in Edmonton, Alberta. (19)
1920 - built paint factory at St. Boniface, Manitoba (International Laboratories, Ltd.) (19)
1920 - Western Paint and Varnish Company established to provide paint for
Marshall-Wells after previous supplier is bought out by Glidden. John G. Gehant, Vice President and General Manager; R.G. Dorway, Sales Manager; W.R. Marshall, general superintendent; and R.A.Morrison, head of research and development. (6)
1922 - Warehouse at Vancouver, British Columbia established.
1922 - acquired Wood Vallance & Leggatt, Vancouver, British Columbia (19)
1925 - took over Wood Vallance Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba with branches at Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Calgary, Alberta. (19)
February 12, 1926 - A.M. Marshall dies at age 74
1928 - Warehouses at Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Calgary, Alberta are established.
1928 - begins voluntary chain of independently-owned hardware stores that carry the Marshall-Wells name. (4)
1929 - Acquired Cunningham Hardware Ltd. and T.J. Trapp Co., Ltd. of New
Westminster, British Columbia. Acquired Marks, Claret, and Dobie of Port Arthur, Ontario. Warehouses at Port Arthur, Ontario and New Westminster, British Columbia are established. (19)
1930 - Canada West Hardware Co. merged with Marshall-Wells business in
Winnipeg, Manitoba. (19)
1933 - John H. Moore comes to Marshall-Wells at request of group of banks. (4)
1933 - Sales reach $15,192,000 (5)
1945 - Marshall-Wells stores program started in Canada with Killarney, Manitoba store. (19)
1948 - John H. Moore becomes President of Marshall-Wells. (4)
1951 - Marshall-Wells sold nearly $49 million worth of hardware in United States and $45 million in Canada. Company has 5 branch warehouses in U.S. (St. Paul, Billings, Portland, Seattle, and Spokane) and 8 branch warehouses in Canada (Port Arthur, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and New
Westminster). (4)
1952 - Marshall-Wells chain of independently-owned hardware stores carrying
Marshall-Wells name number over 600. 500 stores are located in U.S. 125 stores are located in Canada. Marshall-Wells provides merchandising, pricing, advertising assistance and store plans for these stores. (4)
1954 - Sales reach $82,000,000 (5)
May 27, 1955 - controlling interest in Marshall-Wells sold by trustees of A.M.
Marshall estate to Ambrook Industries of New York City through its subsidiaries, Alton Corp., Gauley Mountain Coal Co., and others. The buyers announced that headquarters for Marshall-Wells will continue in Duluth. Marshall-Wells has U.S. branches at St.Paul, MN; Portland, OR; Seattle and Spokane, WA; and Billings, MT. Canadian branches are located at: Port Arthur, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta; and Vancouver and New Westminster, British Columbia. (7)
June 1955 - Hyman J. Sobiloff (NY), board chairman of Ambrook Industries, elected board chairman of Marshall-Wells; L.M. Hatfield, Vice President; Arthur E. Swanson (Chicago), Vice President; Paul N. Thompson, Treasurer; C.E. Madison, Secretary; H.R. Symes (Portland), Assistant Treasurer; Meyer Sobiloff (Fall River, MA), Vice President and Assistant to the Board chairman; Deane M. Freeman, Assistant to the Board chairman; Newton B. Schott, Assistant Secretary. Three directors resign: George H. Spencer and Robert C. Congdon of Duluth and Albert M. Marshall of Red Wing. The new Board of Directors for Marshall-Wells is: H.J. Sobiloff; Meyer Sobiloff; L.M. Hatfield; Deane M. Freeman; Henry Rice Guild, Boston, MA; Ogden B. Hewitt, New York, NY; R.A. Hobday, Winnipeg; S. Foster Hunt, Providence, RI; Orrin G. Judd, New York, NY; Hamilton Pell, New York, NY; Arlen G. Swiger, New York, NY; Walter M. Maguire, Stanford, CT; John H. Moore; Arthur E. Swanson,
Chicago, IL; and Harry M. Cullis. (8,9)
November 1955 - Marshall-Wells buys out Kelley-How-Thomson. Kelley-How-Thomson will continue operations under its own name as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marshall-Wells. George W. Welles, Jr. will continue as President and a director of Kelley-How-Thomson (K-H-T) and will be named Vice President and a director of Marshall-Wells. Certain new directors representing Marshall-Wells will be added to the K-H-T board, but no changes in operating personnel of K-H-T are expected. Kelley-How-Thomson has major branches in St. Paul and Billings, Montana. (12)
December 1955 - Zenith Investment Co., founded with headquarters in Duluth. The purpose of the new company is to provide financial assistance to individuals inthe form of extra capital for expansion of their business. Officers of the company are: H.J. Sobiloff, Board Chair and President; M.M. Sobiloff, M.R. Twiss and H.A. Lynes, Vice Presidents; C.E. Madison, Secretary; Newton B. Schott, Assistant Secretary; B. Dudley Lathrop (Norwich, CT), Treasurer; P.N. Thompson, Controller and Assistant Treasurer. (13)
1955 - estimated $102,000,000 in sales (5)
1956 - Marshall-Wells services approximately 900 independently-owned retail stores bearing the Marshall-Wells name and 6,000 independent dealers.
April, 1956 - Gordon V. Mead, general merchandising manager of Firestone Tire & Rubber of Akron, Ohio, elected President of Marshall-Wells. He succeeds John H. Moore who is retiring. (5)
November 1956 - O.E. Stevens, Vice President and manager of Portland branch, named Executive Vice President. He succeeds M.R. Twiss of Duluth. Twiss is
President of Zenith Machine Co. F. Clifton Schmidt succeeds Stevens on the West Coast. (10)
March 1957 - Marshall-Wells purchases approximately 49% of common stock of Baker Brothers Corp., a leading West Coast retail furniture firm. Marshall-Wells made the acquisition from Gamble-Skogmo, Inc. Marshall-Wells sold its Canadian holdings to Gamble-Skogmo interests. (11)
August 1957 - Portland branch of Marshall-Wells sold to Coast-to-Coast Hardware. (16)
1958 - Jensen Distribution Services acquires wholesale operations of Marshall-Wells, Spokane branch. (20)
January 1, 1958 - Duluth branch of Marshall-Wells and Kelley-How-Thomson
consolidate. The consolidated company, known as Marshall-Wells-Kelley-How-Thomson, to service 225 Marshall-Wells stores, over 3,000 hardware dealers in industrial accounts of Marshall-Wells, and 2,000 independent dealers and industrial accounts of Kelley-How-Thomson. The company will operate in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa. George W. Welles, Jr., President; F.R. Boxrude, Vice President and General Sales Manager. (15)
December 1958 - Coast-to-Coast Stores of Minneapolis, Minnesota purchase Marshall-Wells-Kelley-How-Thomson Duluth Division. Operations will be from Coast-to-Coast's general offices and warehouse building located at 7500 Excelsior Boulevard in Minneapolis. Officers of Coast-to-Coast are Arthur C. Melemad, President; Morris L. Melemad, Secretary-Treasurer; and Henry J. Kantrud and Louis Melemad, Vice
Presidents. (16)
1959 - Marshall-Wells closes Duluth main office and warehouse; headquarters moved to New York City. (1)
July 1959 - Marquette Appliances, Inc. of Minneapolis, MN takes over operation of
Zenith Machine Co. (14)
1963 - Marshall-Wells purchased Biederman Furniture Co., St. Louis, Missouri for $5 million. (1)
1966 - former Marshall-Wells building on Lake Avenue South was purchased by
Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Co. and Modern Constructors, Inc. from Larchfield Corporation, New York. Marine Iron and Modern Constructors are to occupy the seventh floor of the southernmost portion of the building. The northern portion of the building is to be reduced to two stories. The seven story portion on the harbor side is to be demolished for an additional 450 feet of dock and yard area for Marine Iron. (2)
August 25, 1966 - Bolander Construction Co. of Minneapolis to begin demolition of
2-building complex adjacent to Minnesota Slip. (3)
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION:
A.M. Marshall - born December 25, 1851; died February 12, 1926
Morley Heights: named for A.M. Marshall, 80 home housing project for employees of Marshall-Wells, homes were sold at cost.
11 distinct manufacturing plants were started as subsidiaries. Some include: Clyde Iron Works; Western Paint and Varnish; Zenith Machine Company; a paper company and an oil company in Canada. (17)
Marshall-Wells owned International Laboratories, Ltd. of St. Boniface, Manitoba (paint) and Marmac Oil Co., Ltd. of Winnipeg (oils and lubricants). (4)
Marshall-Wells had interests in Duluth Show Case (later Coolerator). (17)
Marshall-Wells had a profit-sharing plan; a mutual benefit plan where the company matched employees' savings; a gymnasium; health insurance; preferred stock plan for employees; employee cafeteria. (17)
Marshall-Wells established the first chemical and physical testing laboratory for
hardware in the world. (17)
Marshall-Wells printed the "Zenith" Magazine. There were two editions: American and Canadian. SEE: Serials Collection for holdings.
SOURCES:
1. Duluth News-Tribune, April 12, 1963
2. Duluth News-Tribune, July 1, 1966
3. Duluth News-Tribune, August 25, 1966
4. Minneapolis Tribune, December 7, 1952
5. Duluth Publicity, April 6, 1956
6. Duluth Herald, April 2, 1930
7. Duluth News-Tribune, May 28, 1955
8. Duluth Herald, June 15, 1955
9. Duluth Publicity, June 17, 1955 and Duluth News-Tribune, June 15, 1955
10. Duluth Herald, November 2, 1956
11. Duluth News-Tribune, March 27, 1957
12. Duluth Herald, November 18, 1955
13. Duluth Herald, December 14, 1955
14. Duluth Herald, July 31, 1959
15. Duluth News-Tribune, December 15, 1957
16. Release by Coast-to-Coast, December 26, 1958
17. Duluth News-Tribune, June 1, 1952
18. The Zenith, March 1928
19. Letter from Bill Sommerville, Credit Manager of Marshall-Wells, Winnipeg branch, October 13, 1953
20. History of Jensen Distribution Services, Internet http://www.jensononline.com/history.html
Note: Information gleaned from Marshall-Wells collection (S3614 Box 1, Folders 10, 16, & 17) and vertical file Industries: Marshall-Wells Hardware.