Over the years, Kansas Lumber Homestore grew in size, number of locations and volume. In 1976, Kent Glasscock, the firm’s current president, joined the family business after graduation from Kansas State University. A new store in Manhattan was built in 1979 to allow the business to take advantage of increased retail consumer sales. A couple years later, the family made the decision to expand its operations geographically and started acquiring a total of 7 other locations in the states of Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa.
Kansas Lumber Homestore: Corporate History
W.R. (Bill) Glasscock entered the lumber business immediately upon leaving the armed services after WWII, in 1946. Serving in various capacities, he worked himself up through the ranks of a small regional line-yard company, Leidigh and Havens Lumber Co. He served eight years as manager in the company’s Warrensburg, MO location before being transferred to Manhattan, KS in 1957. There, he continued in the role as manager for seven years before being promoted to District Supervisor.
By 1967, the Leidigh and Havens Lumber Co. had become part of a much larger national building materials company and the Glasscock family had the opportunity to purchase the Manhattan location. They renamed their new company to, Kansas Lumber Homestore, which was wholly owned by members of the family, just as it remains today.
In 1997, the family decided that while maintaining their other Homestore locations, it would alter its operations by selling the Manhattan Homestore in order to make significant investments in commercial and residential rental properties.
Kansas Lumber Homestore has its corporate offices in Manhattan, Kansas. The company now operates retail lumber and building material locations in the Kansas communities of Concordia, Phillipsburg, and Norton; the Missouri communities of Marshall and Hannibal; and in Keokuk, Iowa. Additionally, the company operates Homestore Directs with staff in Manhattan and Overland Park, Kansas. Directs serves large commercial construction projects across the country with bath, locker, and mailbox products.
The Glasscock family has owned and operated retail building material operations since 1967.