Steeped In History...

It all began in 1944 when Ralph Charles Walter and Bill Copeland began a side business installing venetian blinds, which eventually expanded into aluminum window installation.

Realizing that the side business was more demanding than originally planned, R.C. and Copeland made their services a formal business on March 14, 1946 with the name of “C & W Home Modernizing.”

In 1951, Ralph Charles bought out the company and changed the name to R.C. Walter Roofing and Siding. The Walter family, including R.C. Walter’s wife, Anna Matilda Rainey Walter as secretary, and their two sons, Robert N. Walter and R. C Walter Jr. as employees, structured the company.

In 1956, the business location on Boston Hollow Road, originally a warehouse, started to morph into a small retail shop for basic hardware supplies. With this transition, R.C. had to purchase a warehouse in Greenock to transfer roofing materials into that building and keep the new building as a retail outlet.

Keeping up with the trend, business grew faster than expected and additions to the building were made in both 1962 and 1963 to house the materials.

Finally, in 1973, the hardware store was complete the way it stands today. The employees were officially able to complete their first real display decorated with gondolas.

Currently, the store is still a True Value franchise and Tom continues to run the store with the help of his family; brother, Reverend Paul Walter, and son, Mathew Walter, who marks the fourth generation of the Walter family to be in the hardware business.

Plans are in the works to continue to improve and expand the store or opening a second store sometime in the future.