Williams Steel & Hardware Co.
Employee Owned
1999
Our Mission is to:
Respond quickly to the requirements of our customers and be alert to their ever changing needs.
Treat our customers, vendors and fellow employees with fairness, honesty, respect and integrity at every level of interaction.
Provide a rewarding work environment where each individual knows that his or her job performance is vital to the success of both our customers' enterprises and our own company's growth and profitability.
In 1860, Joshua Williams opened a retail hardware store on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By 1890, it had expanded to become a wholesaler of iron and hardware supplies to blacksmiths and industry. His company was incorporated in 1896 as Williams Hardware Company. (The Corporate name was changed to Williams Steel & Hardware Co. in 1969.)
The company moved forward in 1950 with the construction of a 40,000 square foot warehouse on the present site in north Minneapolis. A series of additions to the warehouse, completed from 1954 to 1970, brought the warehouse to its current size of 214,500 square feet. The warehouse was used to distribute both steel and industrial supplies until 1978, when the company built a fully automated 25,400 square foot distribution center for industrial supplies with storage of product up to 60’ high.
Williams Steel & Supply was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1982 to supply steel to western North Dakota and eastern Montana and parts of South Dakota. The Dickinson, North Dakota facility was designed to meet the steel and industrial supply needs of the oil field drilling industry.
Williams purchased S&S Welding Company in February 1987. S&S continues to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams. In 1993 S&S purchased its manufacturing facility in northeast Minneapolis.
In 1990, Williams formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Williams Fastener & Supply, when they purchased the fastener division of Vincent Metals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Williams has operated under continuous family ownership since its founding in 1860. Portions of the Company were sold to an employee stock ownership trust (ESOT) in 1989, 1996, and 1997. In 1999 the company became 100% employee owned.
Williams, certified to ISO 9002, is committed to providing its customers with quality products and services.