Cook Iron Store's history began in 1907 at Daniel L. Cook's blacksmith
shop. Here Mr. Cook shoed horses, replaced wagon wheel rims and repaired
buggies on Andrews Street in downtown Rochester. As the business
grew Mr. Cook expanded his offering to include iron, steel,
heavy hardware, paint, oil, welding equipment and a tire store.
In 1935,
Daniel Cook passed away and was survived by his wife Mary
and son, Spencer. Along with his cousin Frederick Cook, Spencer
took over the Cook Iron Store operations. In 1936, the Cook's
purchased the Journal American Building at 128 St. Paul Street.
With 70,000 sq. feet of office and warehouse space, Spencer
had unknowingly made provision for an expansion that
would take Cook Iron into the next millennium. In July of
1958, Frederick passed away and Spencer became sole owner.
In 1962
Mr. Richard Alheim purchased Cook Iron Store and expanded
into several different markets including, bottled gas, builders
hardware and fireplace accessories. In 1964 the business grew
to $300,000 in sales and Mr. Ahlheim, realizing the need for
a General Manager, hired Mr. Ed Page away from Builtrite (Chase
Pitkin). At the time Ed was the key figure responsible for
bringing the Home Center concept to the Rochester area. In
1979, Richard Ahlheim passed away unexpectedly and Ed Page
purchased the business to become its President and
CEO.
During
his time with Mr. Ahlheim, Ed built the business substantially,
and in the early 1980's made his two key managers (Ray Riley
and Ed Staub) partners in the business. The three began selling
off areas not consistent with Ed's objective
of becoming the largest Construction and Industrial Supplier
in Rochester. Consequently, they sold the bottled gas business
to Suburban Propane, the paint business to R.C. Shaheen and
the fireplace business to Ted Collins (Cricket on the Hearth).
Over time the iron and steel business was phased out as well,
but the company retained the name and added the acronym "CISCO"
to it's logo.
In July of 1993 Steve Wichtowski and Terry Page became partners with Ed Page as Ray Riley and Ed Staub retired.
Under
Ed's vision and leadership, the company focused on line expansions
that catered to Construction and MRO products such as Black
& Decker/DeWalt, Cooper Tools, Stanley and Ridge Tool.
This concentration and specialization has enabled CISCO to
become a several million dollar business and a primary supplier
to Contractors and Manufacturers in the greater Rochester
area.
In 2004 Cook Iron Store introduced HeavyDutyStore.com and it was immediately successful! By the grace of God HeavyDutyStore.com has experienced tremendous growth and allowed us to sell product globally. In June of 2005 Ed Page passed away and was succeeded by Steve Wichtowski and Terry Page. Steve and Terry continue to carry out and expand on the vision Ed had over 40 years ago. We are grateful to all of our local, national and international customers who continue to allow us to be part of their business.
