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OUR
HISTORY
1949
Ohio Valley Supply was founded by Charles, James, and William
Williams and Lawrence Kyte as a wholesale distribution business,
selling roofing products and other building materials.
1960
OVS began distributing Formica Laminates and accessories to local
countertop shops, lumber yards and millwork houses in the
Cincinnati
area.
1967
DuPont created Corian® solid surfacing as a commercial bath product,
but soon learned that Corian® was an ideal material for kitchen
countertops and a variety of other applications.
1969
Tom Dougherty and a small group of employees purchased the company
from the original owners.
1982
OVS bought Venture Wholesalers in
Dayton,
OH. Ken Shear, who was the sole proprietor of Venture Wholesalers,
joined the OVS family. Shear would later become the President of
the company.
1985
OVS was awarded the Corian® distributorship for southwest Ohio. OVS
also opened a full-service branch in Dayton, OH. In addition, OVS
formed an Employee Stock Ownership Plan to purchase the company from
majority-owner Tom Dougherty. This shift gave our employees a
special stake in the company and reinforced their drive toward
ensuring its long-term success.
1988
OVS was on the move again! As Formica expanded the service area of
the company to include Columbus OH, OVS opened its third
full-service branch.
1989
Due to increasing demand from our customers, our product offering
began to evolve. We decided to get out of the roofing business
after 38 years and we directed our efforts toward other growth
areas. We entered the cabinet hardware business, offering drawer
pulls, knobs, hinges and latches to the cabinet industry. As a
result, we began to add more local fabricators, cabinet shops and
millwork houses to our customer base.
1989
Larry Kunkemoeller, Jr. retired after 30 years with OVS. Ken Shear
replaced him as President of the company, and under his management
OVS continued to evolve. We began to take on new premium products;
we expanded our territory, and we incorporated new technologies to
help streamline our operations.
1993
OVS expanded into the western
Pennsylvania
market with Corian®.
1995
OVS elected to end its time as a Formica distributor and brought on
Pionite Decorative Surfaces as a replacement.
1997
OVS decided to leave the laminate and related products business to
focus on the DuPont Corian® business.
1999
OVS expanded its Corian® market into
Indiana
and Kentucky.
2000
DuPont created Zodiaq® quartz surfacing as an alternative to solid
granite, and OVS was awarded the Zodiaq® distributorship in our
territory.
2001
OVS broke ground on a brand new, state of the art corporate
headquarters. The new OVS includes high-tech wiring for computer
networking, a conference room for formal meetings and a training
room for product demos and more informal gatherings.
2003
OVS conducted a test market for Corian® 1-2-3 which was a simple new
way to replace existing countertops with Corian®. OVS was
instrumental in helping DuPont develop the business model and create
the supporting training, data management and estimating components
needed before the national roll-out.
2005
OVS acquired a local Training Center and worked diligently to
prepare for Corian® fabrication training classes. More than just
selling products, our goal is to support our customer base with
training and education, and to ensure that only qualified,
well-trained professionals work with and install our products.
Mid-2006
With natural stone increasing in popularity, OVS decided to jump
into the stone business. In addition to our Corian® and Zodiaq®
premium surfacing products, OVS introduced our own brand of Granite,
Granite Certified by DuPont and Soterra™ Natural Stone. We held an
Open House in July to debut our new products, and we were extremely
pleased with the turnout.
Late-2006
OVS expanded into the Michigan, Northern Ohio and
West Virginia
areas. We were selected as the Logistics Distributor for Granite
Certified by DuPont in this expanded territory, and we plan to
introduce our brand of Granite as well as Soterra Natural Stone into
this new area.
The future
Over the years our products may have changed, but our
commitment to providing a strong inventory of quality building
materials, a knowledgeable service and sales staff, and a reliable
delivery system will always remain the same. Whether it’s
conducting a test market for the Corian®
1-2-3 countertop replacement program, or
creating a customized, ready-to-install railing system for one of
our national accounts, Ohio Valley Supply will continue to stay on
the forefront of innovation, and we will strive to remain a valued
resource to the building and remodeling community.
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