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 Frank
McConnell started the wholesale tobacco business in 1914 on the second floor of
his retail tobacco store. His business was located in downtown Decatur,
Indiana. By 1919 Frank was working in the business with two of his sons. By
1920, his third son joined the business.
In the early 1930's two of
Frank's sons, Fred and Richard K. took over the business until 1959. In 1959,
Fred retired and Richard K. continued the business with his two sons, Kenneth
J. and Richard C. In 1969, Richard C. pursued other interests outside F.
McConnell and Sons, Inc.
F. McConnell and Sons, Inc.
gradually broadened its product line to include candy, snacks, and paper
products.
In 1973, Richard K. passed away.
His oldest son Kenneth, grandson and granddaughters have continued the
business.
In August 1978, the Garns Company
in Auburn, In had a fire that destroyed its facilities. At that time John Garns
and several Garns Company employees joined F. McConnell and Sons. Due to the
increase in food service sales after the Garns Company came to F. McConnell and
Sons, Inc., we expanded our product line to include a wider variety of food
service products.
In February 1980, our increase in
sales and product line made it necessary to build the main warehouse we are
located in today. In 1984 an addition of 4,800 square feet of freezer
space was added to the warehouse. We also added freezer units to our truck
fleet. By 1986 off site space of 15,000 square feet was acquired for
refrigeration and bulk storage. This brought the total warehouse capacity to
59,800 square feet.
From 1974 to the present,
computerization, frozen food capability, new up to date warehousing and many
other changes have taken place.
Our ongoing success and wide
variety of products enticed us to develop our retail convenience store program
in 1983. Today F. McConnell and Sons, Inc. has a full time wholesale program
for food service industry and convenience store retailers.
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