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Our History

Central Hardware was founded by Walter Hartman in 1948. A mason by trade, Walt felt that Elkhart needed a more full-service hardware store. What began as a mason shop turned into a full-service hardware store and plumbing supplier. Walt grew the business to specialize in pumps, pump repair and plumbing sector, and it flourished. Walt eventually retired and sold his business to Bill Gunter in 1975.

The store continued to grow and expand, adding a second building but never left it's core strength, which was Flint & Walling pumps, domestic plumbing fittings and expanding into lawn irrigation supplies. Bill sold the business in 1988 to John Haas who also continued that legacy, growing the lawn irrigation supplies even further to include custom auto-CAD-designed sprinkling system layouts.

In 2016 John decided to retire after 28 years and sold Central Hardware to Rob Stewart. Rob's background and experience in irrigation and plumbing was the right fit to continue providing full-service, customer-first attention the store is known for.

Today, Central Hardware is the authorized sales and service center for Flint & Walling pumps, Saniflo upflush toilets, as well as an extensive inventory and expertise in Hunter and Rainbird irrigation supplies. We still provide custom auto-CAD designs for residential and commercial irrigation systems.

We know what we're doing!

Our Team