Apr 18, 2024

📷 Throwback Thursday: Rock Island Lumber - Vol. 66

Posted Apr 18, 2024 10:57 AM
Rock Island Lumber & Coal - Westlake Hardware South - 215-219  S. Main - 1908. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.
Rock Island Lumber & Coal - Westlake Hardware South - 215-219 S. Main - 1908. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

Hutch Post, in partnership with Steve Harmon and the Conard-Harmon Collection, is proud to present Throwback Thursday. Enjoy a weekly release from Steve Harmon as he presents the "Hutch - Then & Now Collection."

STEVE HARMON
Hutch Post Contributor

Today's "Throwback Thursday Collection" takes us to the 200 block of South Main Street on the west side.

In 1898, the Rock Island Lumber & Coal Company started at 213 S. Main with A.J. Renner as manager. The first photo shows this facility in 1908 after loading a customer's wagon.

Rock Island Lumber & Coal - Westlake Hardware South - 215-219  S. Main - 1908. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.
Rock Island Lumber & Coal - Westlake Hardware South - 215-219 S. Main - 1908. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

The second photo shows the business on Sept. 29, 1917, as the Reno County Boys were parading in front of it, to go off to WW1 and load onto the troop trains at the Missouri-Pacific tracks at Avenue C and Main.

Rock Island Lumber & Coal and Eagle Grocery - 217 and 213 S. Main - Sept. 29, 1917. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.
Rock Island Lumber & Coal and Eagle Grocery - 217 and 213 S. Main - Sept. 29, 1917. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

Rock Island Lumber closed in 1920.

Between 1923 and 1928, the building housed the Houston-Zimmerman Lumber Co. with Charles Zimmerman as manager.

Between 1929 and 1931, The J.I. Case Co. Manufacturers of agricultural equipment in Racine, Wisconsin, used it as their sale and showroom floor.

Between 1931 and 1961, this location was the Reno Implement Co.

Between 1963 and 1984, it housed the Reno Hardware Co. owned by R.B. Langenwalter.

In 1985, Langenwalter sold the business's two locations to Frank Westlake out of Kansas City and it is still Westlake Ace Hardware today. The third photo shows that building today.

Rock Island Lumber - Westlake Hardware - 215 S. Main - March 10, 2024. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.
Rock Island Lumber - Westlake Hardware - 215 S. Main - March 10, 2024. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

Westlake now owns 160 stores in 12 states with its home base at 14000 Marshall Dr., Lenexa, Kansas.

To purchase a print, contact: [email protected].

Throwback Thursday is brought to you by:

Gambino's Pizza
Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce
STRATACA Kansas Underground Salt Museum

CLICK HERE to download the Hutch Post mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.