Circa 1950 |
Tedford's has been serving
Ipswich and surrounding communities since 1946.
It was started by two WW II U.S. Navy Veterans,
Jim Tedford, Sr. and Bill Martin. They
originally opened as a sawmill. They had a
"Pecker Mill" that they could move around to
different areas, produce the lumber and move on.
However, the |
2008 |
winter of 1947 proved to be
too much for them and forced the closure of the mill.
The two men didn't give up, they purchased property in
Brown's Square and started a lumber yard. The lumber
business was good, but the accessories they sold proved
to be more popular. They sold pretty much of
whatever a builder needed. The
original
building was very small and there wasn't much room
for a lot of hardware. But, over the years the
hardware side of the business slowly grew and they
expanded.
In 1959 Bill Martin left the
business thinking that it would go under. Jim
stayed on and pursued the business through some tough
times. A Grossman's had come into Town and things
looked bad for the business. It turned out that
Grossman's brought in customers from out of Town that
would shop at Tedford's. The store was able to
survive and stay open.
In 1975 Tedford's affiliated with
True Value and became the well established business that
it is today. |
