A BRIEF HISTORY OF BECKER HARDWARE
1903: The Late Morris Becker and the Late Melvin                    
          Dodd form a partnership on a handshake to
          sell hardware and housewares in New York
          City at the corner of Spring & Thompson
          Streets.
 
1913: Morris Becker purchased Melvin Dodd’s
          share of the business with another
          handshake.
1923: Morris and his wife Sadie purchase the
          building and General Store in Red Bank at
          197 Shrewsbury Ave. from Morris’s older
          brother, Louis Becker, who moved his family
          to Southern California.
 
1924: Morris and Sadie move their family and
          business to Red Bank. The store sold
          housewares, hardware, tools, crockery and
          Morris also did repair work on coal stoves.
          Merchandise was shipped from New York
          City to the Steamboat Dock (Now Marine
          Park) in Red Bank on the Sidewheel boats,
          Sea Bird and Albertina. One of the highlights
          of Morris’ and Sadie’s young son’s, Joe, early
          work experience was to go to the Steamboat
          Dock with his father in their Model T truck and
          load it with merchandise from the
          steamboats. Sometimes the truck  would be
          so loaded down that they would wonder if it
          would make it up the hill at the Steamboat    
          dock.
1937: Joe Becker enters the business full time after
    graduating from NYU’s School of Commerce and a
    short stint at working for one one the leading
    retail establishments of this era.
1946: Shortly after Art’s birth to Joe and Adele, he starts his internship at Becker Hardware under the tutelage of his grandfather, Morris. Until Art’s 5th birthday, the family lived in a house right behind the store. Grandparents, Morris and Sadie, lived just across the street. 1948: Joe introduced his first lawn seed mixture developed specifically for Monmouth County’s soil. 1951: The sales floor and warehouse were doubled in size.
1957: The old frame building, which had become a landmark,
          was torn down to make room for an enlarged, modern    
          store. Selling space was again doubled.
 
1967: Warehouse space was doubled again to serve the
          growing business.
 
1969: Arthur joins the family business full time after
          graduating from Lehigh University with a B.S. in
          Accounting.
 
1971: Needing larger quarters, Joe and Art
     purchase a 3 1/4 acre parcel of land in the
    center of Monmouth County on Highway 34,
    Colts Neck. Many people thought that Joe and
     Art were crazy. Colts Neck was a sparsely
    populated town with probably more horses
    than people. The business community
    consisted of The General Store,
    Exxon Station, Delicious Orchards,
    Apache Tomato, Wicker Basket,
    Amoco Station, Pleasant Valley Nursery,
    Shadowlawn Savings, MidAtlantic Bank,
    and Illmensee Realtors.
1972: March 3, A new, modern 15,000 sq. ft.    
          store is opened on time due to the    
          cooperation of the contractors and their
          crews.
    
1973: Art starts selling premium Outdoor Power
         Equipment and in a very short time,
    Becker Hardware becomes a
    leading retailer of Outdoor Power
         Equipment.
1977: A stampeding elephant chases Art’s wife, Karen,
    and 3 year old son Dan at the store.  Her trainer
    got her under control before she was able to
    trample Karen and Dan and create a new entrance
     in the store front.   Art hired the trainer and baby
    elephant to prove that lawns grown with Becker’s
     Lawn Seed and fed with Becker’s Lawn Food  
    were elephant tough.  The lawn did great, but
     the hired photographer was too mortified to
    photograph the incident.  Proud Grandfather, Joe,
     was stoichally able  to capture the near tragedy on
    film resulting in possibly the funniest movie of all
    time. It was however lost to history.  
    At the end of the day, Art was able to test
    the strength of the shovels he sold.
1978: Becker Hardware began selling
     its Best 24-4-8 Lawn Food
 
1981: Construction started on a 7,000
    sq. ft. addition to the Colts Neck
    store to be used as an
    Outdoor Power Equipment
    showroom and a modern,
    state-of-the-art
    Outdoor Power Equipment
    service facility.
 
1985: Dan and Jeff attend
     True Value Hardware show
    with Art for the 1st time to learn the
          business and to be exposed to new
    products and ideas.
1990: Dan and Jeff take a more active role in the
          business. Jeff becomes an accomplished fork lift
          operator at a very young age. Both Dan and Jeff
          work weekends and summers on a regular basis.
 
2000: Becker Hardware purchases
     Central Repair Services of Marlboro.
 
2001: Dan and Jeff enter the the business
    full-time after completing their studies.
    Jeff earned a Bachelors degree in Business
    and Dan earned Bachelors and Masters Degrees
    in Environmental Science and Health.
2003: The 4th generation, Becker Hardware, celebrates its Centennial
    with a large party, free food, a barbershop quartet and local dignitaries.  
    Becker Hardware is the second oldest business in Colts Neck after
     the distiller Laird and Company which is over 300 years old.
     Colts Neck has a rich and deep history dating to early
    British and Dutch colonies and Becker Hardware is a perfect fit in town.
2008: Becker Hardware celebrates its 105th Anniversary and enters
    the 21st century with www.beckerhardware.com.
© 2008 Becker Hardware Inc. & Nerd.Pro Solutions
Thank you to all of our loyal customers and we look for forward to another 100 years of service!