Hillsborough County FlArchives Biographies.....Thomas, Walter C. 
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Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 August 21, 2015, 3:53 am

Source: Vol. II  pg.53-54  The Lewis Publishing Co. 1923
Author: History of Florida, Past and Present 

        WALTER C. THOMAS, founder, general manager and treasurer of the Tampa 
Hardware Company, is not only one of the most substantial business men of 
Hillsboro County, but he has also found time and possessed the inclination to 
take an effective part in many of the important improvements undertaken to 
advance the welfare of Tampa and it section. He is also connected with the 
Southern Hardware Jobbers’ Association, which he served for four years as 
president, and of which he is now a director; is president of the Tampa Credit 
Men’s Association; president of the Tampa Adjustment Bureau; and a director of
the Tampa Board of Trade.
	Mr. Thomas has been reared in the hardware business, having entered it 
as a lad of 14 years, when he began working in his father’s hardware store at 
Valdosta, Georgia. In young manhood he came with his family to Tampa, and the 
little party was accompanied by a negro porter, JOHN HUDSON, who is still in 
Mr. Thomas’ employ, giving him a service which has all of the old-time loyalty
and devotion of the subordinate to the superior, and winning in return the
kindly affection so often found in the South between the two races.
	At the time of the advent of the Thomas family to Tampa conditions were
not very favorable for the carrying out of the idea he has been formulating,
but in 1900 he took the initial step and opened a small retail store. Speaking
of this venture and its development in an address to the Tampa Rotary Club, Mr.
Thomas said in part:
	“My associates in the company and myself set out to either build up a 
credible business or go broke in the attempt. In due time we felt warranted in 
assuming the then formidable expense of one traveling man. It was with many 
fears and misgivings that we reached out for a share of the trade of South 
Florida. But the real growth of Tampa and the surrounding territory had just 
begun, and we were fortunate in beginning when that growth began, and we were 
not content to merely keep pace with that growth, but were bold enough to keep 
a little in advance of it. At times our steps had to be so cautious that I 
frequently found it necessary to sell goods before buying them-on many 
occasions I have personally solicited orders, waiting until I had the order 
safely in hand from the retailer before ordering goods from the manufacturer. 
Efforts were made to both cripple and kill the infant enterprise-but it had the 
vitality of unlimited energy, the growing strength of determination to succeed 
and the unstinting nourishment of hard work. It lived and thrived.”
	As Mr. Thomas indicates in the above words, the Tampa Hardware Company
grew rapidly, and the original traveling man was given associates until today
the company maintains a large corps of as efficient and experienced salesman
obtainable, who cover all of South Florida and reach out into other sections of
the state. The retail store in the meanwhile was moved from the original
location in the W. A. Morrison Building, corner of Franklin and Madison
Streets, to the Frieble Building, corner of Franklin and Polk streets. The
business of this department was expanded until it reached $200,000 annually,
but in 1914 was closed on the grounds that it was not fair to the Jobbers to
sell direct to the trade. Since then the Tampa Hardware Company has carried on
a strictly wholesale business, and is the only exclusive wholesale hardware
house in Florida today.
	In 1912 the Tampa Hardware Company erected its modern five-story 
building, which, although ample at that time, is now scarcely large enough for 
the demands of the business, and the company utilizes nearby businesses as 
warehouses. New departments have been added as the demands of the trade 
justified such expansion, and at present the company is doing a business 
annually of $250,000 in hotel supplies; $200,000 in sporting goods; $250,000 in 
automobile tire casings; $200,000 in automobile accessories; $250,000 in 
Columbia Grafonolas in addition to the standard hardware lines. The original 
capital of $15,000 has been increased to $400,000, capital and surplus. Seventy-five
persons are employed at Tampa, fifteen traveling men are on the road, and the retail
store has become a powerful wholesale concern. Associated with Mr. Thomas in this
remarkable enterprise is PETER O. KNIGHT, president of the company, now general
counsel for the Southern Hardware Jobbers
five persons are employed at Tampa, fifteen traveling men are on the road, and 
the retail store has become a powerful wholesale concern. Associated with Mr. 
Thomas in this remarkable enterprise is PETER O. KNIGHT, president of the 
company, now general counsel for the Southern Hardware Jobbers’ Association, 
and an attorney of national repute, a banker and public-spirited citizen.
	Mr. Thomas is a man of remarkable attributes and compelling 
personality. He is possessed of a wonderful ability to judge men, and seldom 
makes a mistake in his selection of them. It is a fact worthy of mention that 
many of the men now with the Tampa Hardware Company have been with Mr. Thomas 
for years, rising in the concern, and reaping benefits from their association 
with him and the rapidly expanding business. During the late war Mr. Thomas 
served as president of the Southern Hardware Jobbers’ Association, and as such 
rendered a very valuable service to the country, for his Association 
accomplished an enormous amount of constructive work. As a director and member 
of the Advisory Board of this powerful organization Mr. Thomas is continuing 
his connection with it, and has been proven equally useful during the trying 
period of reconstruction. Mr. Thomas is a firm believer in advertising, and 
attributes much of the success of his company to the fact that from the 
inception of the business he has placed his affairs before the public in
well-written and placed advertisements.
	As one of the local newspaper said of Mr. Thomas in a recent edition:
written and placed advertisements.
	As one of the local newspaper said of Mr. Thomas in a recent edition:
	“In spite of his multifarious activities in his business and the 
Southern Hardware Jobbers’ Association, Mr. Thomas finds time to serve his own
city and community whenever there is need for his advice and services.
	Mr. Thomas is president of the Tampa Credit Men’s Association, which is
in composed of every wholesale institution and all the banks of Tampa. He is
also president of the Tampa Adjustment Bureau, and in both capacities his
guiding hand and helpful advice have rendered invaluable service to these
bodies. He is also a director of the Tampa Board of Trade.
	Then, too, there is never a movement of any sort tending toward the
civic industrial or commercial betterment of Tampa that does not find Mr.
Thomas actively identified with it and working with heart and soul for the
accomplishment of a better and truly greater Tampa.
	It is small wonder that a business of the magnitude of the Tampa 
Hardware Company under the guiding genius of such a dynamo of energy, such a 
successful organizer and such a thoroughly capable business man in every 
respect has grown by leaps and bounds from its very infancy.”



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