Ralph Connell was
Connell Hardware
The group was jokingly called The Millionaires Breakfast club and Ralph was a member. One Monday morning in 2007 Ralph did not show up for breakfast. A phone call was made and Ralph's wife Jean went to the store to check on him. Ralph was sitting in a chair, next to the potbelly stove, but his life at Connell Hardware had quietly ended.
Coast Guard 1944
Ralph took over the Hardware Store at the young age of 23 in 1948, after serving in the Coast Guard during World War II. For the next 59 years he stoked the fire in the stove, cut and threaded pipe, made screens and storm windows and became a model citizen.
Ralph was a Third Degree Mason, a life long member of the Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church and Past President of the Reynoldsburg-Truro Historical Society. The top floor of the hardware store was the Historical Society's Museum for many years, at a cost of one dollar per year.
When the Reynoldsburg Shopping Center was being built on Main Street, in the 1950’s, Ralph was approached to move his hardware store. Good business there was practically guaranteed, but the rent was going to be very high plus a portion of his gross income. S.L. Hall, owner of the large wholesale hardware company, Smith Brothers Hardware, paid Ralph a visit. He talked him into staying where he was and Ralph was always grateful for that.
Ralph and Dorothy Jean Hamilton were married in 1955 and raised two daughters, Sarah and Charity in a home two blocks from the store. Being members of a family business was a great learning experience for the girls. They realized what hard work and dedication it takes to make a business successful.
The Connell Hardware store celebrated its 125th anniversary in 1997. A booklet titled “Connell Hardware a Family Tradition” was published at that time, written by local historian Cornelia M. Parkinson. Excerpts from that book appear on this 2013 website.
Ralph was a Third Degree Mason, a life long member of the Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church and Past President of the Reynoldsburg-Truro Historical Society. The top floor of the hardware store was the Historical Society's Museum for many years, at a cost of one dollar per year.
When the Reynoldsburg Shopping Center was being built on Main Street, in the 1950’s, Ralph was approached to move his hardware store. Good business there was practically guaranteed, but the rent was going to be very high plus a portion of his gross income. S.L. Hall, owner of the large wholesale hardware company, Smith Brothers Hardware, paid Ralph a visit. He talked him into staying where he was and Ralph was always grateful for that.
Ralph and Dorothy Jean Hamilton were married in 1955 and raised two daughters, Sarah and Charity in a home two blocks from the store. Being members of a family business was a great learning experience for the girls. They realized what hard work and dedication it takes to make a business successful.
The Connell Hardware store celebrated its 125th anniversary in 1997. A booklet titled “Connell Hardware a Family Tradition” was published at that time, written by local historian Cornelia M. Parkinson. Excerpts from that book appear on this 2013 website.
Ralph Connell, a Reynoldsburg legend, 1925-2007
Ralph, in 2006, waiting on spring, so he can start selling seeds and plants to neighborhood gardners.