Delhi Historical Society

Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company

Established July 1, 1934

 

I have been asked to write a history of Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company, Inc. The following is my recollection of that history. It started when I was six years old, and as it is with all juveniles, things seemed much larger and longer than they do when you are an adult, but here goes:

 

Maxwell Hardware Company was opened in Delhi on July 1, 1934 by F. Earl Maxwell and his wife Blanche. Earl Maxwell had traveled Delhi as part of his sales route for Shapleigh Hardware Company, a St. Louis hardware distributor.  Some time during the early 1930's, Woods Hardware Store burnt to the ground, leaving Delhi without a hardware store. The original location of Maxwell Hardware was in a wood framed sheet metal building that was rented from Mrs. Mattie Smith.  It was located on the north side of Highway 80, two blocks west of Louisiana Highway 17.  The building was about 25 feet wide and 50 feet deep.  As you can imagine, business was very slow and difficult during the post depression years. This was the era of 5cent Cokes and Hershey bars. In checking sales volume, the sales of the company on February 11, 2003 were twice the sales volume of the first full year of business. The original building was demolished during the 1980's About 1937, the business was moved to a new building that John R. Golson built next to his Economy Drug Store. This was a masonry building that is still standing. It was considerably larger and in addition to hardware, some furniture and Kelvinator refrigerators and Philco radios were added to the inventory. A radio repair shop was opened in the rear of the store. D.Phillip Rundell was employed as a radio repair technician. Sometime during 1941, you Frank Earl, Jr. was put to work after school and during the summer. Wet cell radio batteries were charged for customers. Baby chickens were hatched and sold. Blanche got a teaching job and Earl bought a hay press to do custom work outside the business. Supplemental income was necessary to survive. During the early years (1934-1942) business was very slow, but the coompany consistently made a small profit.

 

In 1942, during the World War II years, Earl Maxwell purchased the old Coco Cola Building on Broadway street from the O'Neal family, and Maxwell Hardware was moved to that location. The building was extensively remodeled and the exterior remains much the same in 2003. Building materials were then added to the inventory, and the name was changed to Maxwell Hardware and Lumber Company. Lumber was impossible to buy during the war years, but Gypsum board, roofing, cement, doors and windows were available and were added to the inventory. Sales consisted of wagon wheel hubs, spokes and rims, horse collars, bridles, nuts and bolts, and pipe fittings. Kerosene cook stoves, wicks and burners, cast iron wood burning cook stoves, oil lanterns, pots, pans, eating utensils, oil cloth and many other home supplies of that era. There were sand and gravel bins next to the railroad siding ust east of Highway 17 that were loaded from rail cars using scoops. Cement was purchased in rail cars and unloaded by hand in a shed further to the east. The railside property was rented from Illinois-Central Railroad. All materials were handled by hand. In 1947, electrical supplies, including light fixtures along with appliances and furniture continued to be an important part of the business. The second floor of the building was devoted to furniture. 

 

In 1946-1947, Earl Maxwell began experiencing poor health and began selling part interest in the company to Phillip Rundell and Frank Earl Maxwell, Jr. Sometime during 1946-1947, Phillip Rundell became the manager and in the spring of 1947, Frank Earl Maxwell, Jr. who oned 16-2/3% of the company began working full time for the company. In late 1950, Frank Earl, Jr. was drafted into the Army and was away from the business in Delhi until 1956. During this time, Phillip Rundell began contracting residential construction and remodeling. Shortly after Frank Earl, Jr. returned to Delhi, he began architecturally designed contracting. During the time away, Frank Earl, Jr. was sold another 1/6 of the business, making his interest 1/3. In July of 1956, Gene Goad, Earl Maxwell's son-in-law, was sold a 1/3 interest; making the partnership three equal partners. In 1959, Phillip Rundell and Frank Earl, Jr. purchased Gene Goad's interest making the business a 50-50 partnership.

 

As a sidelight, about this same time, Jim Thomas sold the burnt out Cave Theater to Phillip Rundell and Frank Earl, Jr. who rebuilt the present building and operated the theater.

 

In 1961, Frank Earl, Jr. purchased Phillip Rundell's interest in Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company to become 100% owner and sold Phillip Rundell all of the Cave Theater.

 

In 1962, Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company was incorporated, the construction department was continued as Frank E. Maxwell General Contractor and the furniture and appliance part of the business was moved to another building and was incorporated as Maxwell's Furniture, Inc. The construction department continued until 1968 when it was combined with Trieschmann Construction as "M&T Development Company".  M&T built a number of Public Housing projects, including the project on May Street in Delhi. Maxwell's Furniture was sold to Furniture Fashions of Rayville in 1980 and was later closed out.

 

In 1963, Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company was one of the five organizing members of the "Paul Bunyan Building Suppliers". This organization was established to enable its members to compete wth the chain discounters. In 1966, the Paul Bunyan group had grown to seven members and was combined with a group of five dealers in east Texas. The group's name was changed to "Allied Building Stores" with headquarters in Monroe, Louisiana.

 

In 1966, Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company, Inc. purchased a used fork lift truck and began to mechanize its material handling. The process was slow and difficult since all the facilities were limited in size and designed for hand loading. The company continued to grow slowly in this location until 1969 whe the State changed Broadway Street (Louisiana Highway 17) to a four lane street to feed the new Interstate 20. This new highway prohibited parking in front of the building; making it difficult for customers to find parking. Three acres of property was purchased from the Neal McEacharn estate on Highway 80, about 300 yards west of the Delhi town limits. A new masonry showroom containing 8000sqft with a 12,000sqft engineered steel warehouse connected to the rear was constructed on this site and the company moved in on February 8, 1970. There has been another building added to the facility almost every year since and there is now over 60,000sqft under roof; as of 2014 there is over 75,000sqft under roof. This new facility was designed for mechanical material handling and created better efficiency to enable the company to be more competitive. 

 

Druing the early 1980's, Texas Instruments made a proposal to Allied Building Stores to write a building material software program for building material dealers. Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company was one of about thirty-five dealers that agreed to convert to "point-of-sale" computer controls. After Texas Instruments chose to discontinue the program, a computer company was organized to complete the program. After about four years of very difficult conversions (trial & error), the programs were successfully completed and Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company was on the leading edge of electronic data processing.

 

In 1979, Frank Maxwell III started working for the company. After several years of working in every phase of the company, he became manager in 1993 and began acquiring stock.  On January 1, 2000 Frank Maxwell, III became the sole owner of the company. As of this writing, the company is 69 years old (2003) and is a major material supplier to the construction industry and to individuals throughout Northeast Louisiana. 

 

(Added by Frank Maxwell, III - June 18, 2014)

It is of notable interest, Frank Earl Maxwell, Jr. was one of the founding members of Allied Building Stores, located in Monroe, Louisiana. Allied Building Stores has a distribution network covering fifteen Southern States, with over 238 dealers; with over $700million in sales volume per year. In 2005, Frank E. Maxwell, III was inducted into the ULM Football Hall of Fame, formerly holding all receiving records. Additionally, Frank Earl Maxwell, IV hopefully continues the legacy. He has worked summers in various jobs throughout the company. He starts college in 2015 and will be the fourth generation of the family to take over Maxwell Hardware & Lumber Company.

 

Written by Frank Earl Maxwell, Jr.

Originally composed in 2003

Article submitted: March 14, 2015