© Frank H. Jump
A landmarked family-owned Staten Island lumber company, H.S. Farrell Inc., Port Richmond, is liquidating its inventory to close for business.
“It’s been a very, very very tough decision,” said Thomas Farrell, 48, who runs the Port Richmond enterprise with his father, Robert. His uncle, Donald, who had also operated the business passed away in May 2008.
“This was a couple months in the planning but it was really a few years in the making. The last five, seven, eight years we haven’t been able to sustain a profit,” said Farrell, citing competition from Home Depot, Lowes and the economy.
The company had been in business 120 years.
The family-owned business had built a solid reputation for hard work, customer service, innovation and perseverance through tough economic times.
H.S. Farrell Lumber and Millwork began as the Alvin Conklin Planing Mill in 1888. It was a physically demanding hands-on enterprise exclusively operated by men.
The venture hit its first major milestone in 1912, when Harry Farrell, who was Conklin’s nephew, bought the mill. Two years later, the new owner changed the company name to H.S. Farrell Lumber and Millwork, but it wasn’t until shortly before Farrell’s untimely death, 24 years later, that the business expanded its scope.
Farrell’s widow, Marion, who up until then had been the mill’s bookkeeper, broke tradition and took command of the business. Her action did more than ensure the mill’s continuation; it highlighted the competency of women entrepreneurs and paved the way for her sons, Robert and Donald, to step into the venture.
— Reported by Stephannia Cleaton for Staten Island Advance on March 02, 2009
