This Howard County hardware store has seen and sold it all

August 14, 2024

Well into the 1970s, customers would walk into Andy Clark's hardware store in Ellicott City, Md., looking for parts for their Ontario seed drills.

“It was a super-durable piece of gear,” Andy said.

How durable? Well, the Ontario drill — used to plant grain — came on the market around 1900. Back then, it would be pulled across a farm field by a team of horses.

“Once the horses were gone, they’d just hitch it up behind a tractor,” Andy said.

It’s possible Andy’s grandfather or great-grandfather sold the drills his customers wanted parts for. At 170 years old, Clark’s is probably the oldest continually operating business in Howard County. (Can you think of an older one?) It was founded in 1845 as a farm implement store.

The original Clark’s, in downtown Ellicott City, was a narrow-aisled, many-drawered emporium of the sort you don’t see much anymore. You probably wouldn’t see Clark’s either, if Andy hadn’t moved the operation out to Route 40 in 1974. The old place had five parking spaces and 13,000 square feet. The airy, current incarnation has 137 spaces and 40,000 square feet.

I stopped by on a recent morning to find out how the business has changed over the years. Well, Clark’s Ace Hardware doesn’t sell Ontario seed drills anymore. Or coal. (That was a big item when the store was by the railroad depot.) It doesn’t sell fuel oil anymore, either.

I get the feeling Andy doesn’t miss that. One of his first jobs in the family business was accompanying drivers on their deliveries. On snow days, he rode shotgun in the truck and dragged the hose to customers’ tanks.

In summers, Andy and his brother, Edward, would clean furnace oil burners.

“You’d always smell like Number 2 fuel oil,” Andy said.

Sometimes, they were rewarded with a trip to the pool. They would be sure to take a sudsy shower before diving in. They were afraid that otherwise they’d leave an iridescent slick on the water’s surface.

Clark's Hardware is into the seventh generation of family ownership. That's remarkable. "Three percent of family businesses survive to the fourth generation," said Andy's wife, Jackie.

Andy and Jackie's daughter Margaret is one of the store's managers. She was a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps. I met her as she shelved light bulbs.

Now there's a category that's changed a lot over the years. Once, of course, it didn't even exist. Then the light bulb went on, figuratively, over Thomas Edison's head. At Clark's, oil lamps and gas lamps were replaced by electric ones. Incandescent bulbs were added to the stock. When compact fluorescents came out, Andy was intrigued. He bought his first batch from a guy in the Midwest who made them by hand.

Now LEDs (for light-emitting diodes) are ascendant. Just don’t put them in a dimmer fixture made for incandescents. Won’t work right.

Andy is full of that sort of advice and knowledge. Like: Don’t let ethanol gas sit in your power tools. It’ll separate and mess up the carburetor. And the best way to bait one of those wooden Victor mousetraps is with a slightly masticated Tootsie Roll. Like most of us, mice can’t resist a Tootsie Roll.

Those are the sorts of things you learn when you go to Clark’s.

In January, Jackie and Andy will celebrate their 40th anniversary. Jackie remembers when she started working at the hardware store, someone came in and asked if they sold pig rings. Jackie wasn’t exactly sure what pig rings were, but she was pretty sure they didn’t.

Turns out they did back then. And a pig ring is exactly what it sounds like: a ring for the nose of a pig. “You snap a lead on his nose, he’s going to follow you,” Andy said.

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have learned that at Home Depot.

The stuff of history

Speaking of venerable businesses, three longtime Washington companies were among those organizations honored at last week's Making D.C. History Awards, bestowed by the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. Each of the companies, and the families behind them, have helped make history — and preserve it.

Wagner Roofing was founded in 1914 by German immigrant Otto Wagner. Over the years, it has reroofed some of the city's most iconic — and complex — buildings. In 1921, a young Benjamin Ourisman struck out on his own after spending two years working for a Chevrolet dealership on Connecticut Avenue. Today, the Ourisman Chevrolet jingle is stuck in our heads, and Ourisman Automotive sells more than just Chevies. The Clyde's restaurant chain got its start in 1963 as a single bar on M Street NW. Now it has restaurants over the entire area.

Also honored were the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the Hillcrest Children and Family Center (a descendant of the city's first orphanage, founded in 1815) and the Cassell family. Albert Cassell (1895-1969) was a prominent D.C. architect, and he chaired Howard University's architecture department. Three of his four children became architects.

To see interesting video profiles of the winners, go to dchistory.org and click on the names of the winners in the Making D.C. History Awards section.

Twitter: @johnkelly

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.

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