Lummus Supply Co. is Still Building After 100 Years
Five generations of the Lummus family have now worked in and helped manage Lummus Supply Co. as it reaches its 100-year milestone. (From left) Reid Lummus, vice president of operations; Will Lummus, CEO; and Ashlyn Jenkins, human resource and accounts receivable manager.
Lummus Supply Co., with five locations in the Atlanta area, approaches growth with consistency and a customer-first approach.
When Will Lummus talks about carrying on his family’s legacy, he doesn’t reach for grand statements. He talks about people. About culture. About lessons that have been passed down quietly for a century and reinforced every day in the lumberyard, behind the counter and in the office.
“It’s an honor to be able to continue it,” Will Lummus says of leading the business, which boasts five generations of family members who have worked there. “Very few companies last past three generations. I’m proud of the people before me and the lessons they taught me along the way.”
Now part of Hardware Connection’s Century Club, Lummus Supply Co. marks 100 years in business while continuing to provide experienced service, quality lumber and building products to its Atlanta-area customers.
Founded in 1925 as a sand business in Atlanta, Lummus Supply Co. has grown alongside the city itself. What began with R.H. Lummus Sr. pumping sand from Proctor Creek evolved through coal, drywall, lumber and engineered products as each generation responded to changing markets and customer needs. Through the years, one principle has remained constant: Take care of people, and the business will take care of itself.
Now, with its 100th anniversary, Lummus Supply Co. joins more than 1,000 independent hardware and building supply dealers nationwide as members of the Hardware Connection Century Club, a recognition reserved for businesses that have reached the milestone of 100 years in operation.
Business Shaped by Adaptabilit
The company’s early history was rooted in adaptability. Founder R.H. Lummus Sr. traded a cotton farm for a dairy farm on Bolton Road in Atlanta, only to discover that sand offered a more reliable livelihood. During the Great Depression, when construction slowed to a crawl, the family pivoted again. Lummus Sr. sold insurance door to door and even started a truck farm—a small farm producing vegetables for the local market—to stay afloat. Even as the business adapted to survive, caring for neighbors and customers remained central to how the family operated, with help often extended quietly and without expectation.
CEO Will Lummus continues the company’s tradition of family leadership, focusing on strong customer relationships and high-quality building material solutions as Lummus Supply Co. enters its second century.
“My grandfather would give a guy a sack of coal and say, ‘Pay me when you can,’ ” recalls Robert Hugh Lummus II, the third-generation owner, grandson of the founder and former president and CEO. “That was really the beginning of Lummus Sand & Coal.”
World War II brought rationing and workforce shortages, but the company endured. When soldiers returned home, the family recognized the demand for housing and shifted fully into building materials. Many of the homes along Bolton Road were furnished with materials supplied by Lummus, tying the company’s story directly to Atlanta’s postwar growth.
By the late twentieth century, Lummus had expanded to as many as nine locations and became one of the Southeast’s largest drywall distributors. Then came the 2008 economic downturn.
“We were very fortunate that we didn’t have any debt,” says Bill Lummus, the third-generation family member who led the company through that period. “That’s what saved us.”
Lummus Supply Co. has evolved from sand and coal into drywall, lumber and engineered products—always anchored by a focus on people and long-term relationships.
Culture Before Everything Else
When Will Lummus stepped into the role of president and CEO in July 2021, preserving the culture was nonnegotiable. “We’re not a corporate company,” he says. “Culture is huge with us. I never expect anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do.”
That mindset shows up in practical ways. Lummus Supply Co. employs close to 100 people, many of whom have been there for decades. Managers with 30 or 40 years of service are common. Entire families have worked at the company across generations.
“If you take care of your employees, they’ll take care of you,” Lummus says. “Nobody works for me. I work with everybody in my company.”
Employees echo that sentiment. Phil Tyson, who started in 1982, remembers when the company helped him build his first home, even cosigning his loan. Gary Hicks, manager of the Roswell, Ga., location, recalls being fully supported during a monthlong hospital stay in 2018, including continued pay and even a bonus.
Dennis Hughes, a branch manager with more than four decades at Lummus, tells a similar story about battling cancer. “They said, ‘Take your time. Do what you need to do,’ ” he says. “That meant a lot.”
Continue reading in the January 14, 2026 issue.
