Pensacola Hardware Company
Pensacola Hardware is a hardware retailer located in downtown Pensacola and is one of Pensacola's oldest and longest-running businesses.
Pensacola Hardware Company was founded in 1851 by Albert Lord Avery. The next year a son, Albert Miner Avery, was born, and in 1876 the younger Avery joined his father's hardware firm, which became known as A. L. and A. M. Avery. At this point the business was located at 123-127 South Palafox Street (southwest corner Palafox and Intendencia). At some point the elder Avery retired, and A. M. Avery took as a partner a Mr. Woolfolk, and the firm was henceforth known as Avery and Woolfolk, until the year 1889, in which Mr. Woolfolk retired. Henceforth A. M. Avery was the sole proprietor. In 1897 he moved the business into the newly-constructed Masonic Temple on the southeast corner of Palafox and Garden Streets.
In 1906, Avery organised the Avery Hardware & Supply Company, of which he was president, to manage the business. Shortly thereafter a Mr. W. A. Ray entered the firm. At some point he bought out Avery's share of the business, and the firm became known as W. A. Ray Hardware Company, with the retail store in the Masonic Lodge styled Ray's Corner Hardware.
In 1921, bank examiner R. G. Martin and business partner A. J. Butt purchased the business and renamed it Pensacola Hardware Company. Shortly thereafter, the business moved into a building on Garden Street just behind the Masonic Lodge. In August 1925, the business again moved to 21-27 East Garden Street. The building had been built by J. E. Taylor about 1905; it was demolished in 1949 to make way for an extension of Jefferson Street. A. J. Butt retired from the firm in 1946. In 1948, Pensacola Hardware moved to its current location at 20 East Gregory Street. R. G. Martin continued to operate the business until his death in 1976, at which time ownership passed to his son-in law, James M. Coe. Coe retired in 2000 and the business has since been operated by his sons James M. Coe, Jr. and Martin M. Coe.
