Mar. 31—Decades before Lowe’s Home Improvement settled in Edwardsville, there was another long time hardware store nearby in Kingston.
James Bryant Harris competed against himself by being a partner with the White Hardware Co. at East Market and Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre, and a second business he named after himself, the Harris Hardware Co. at Kingston Corners.
Harris was known as one of the premiere businessmen in the Wyoming Valley in the first half of 20th century and served as a school director for Wilkes-Barre City Schools. Harris died from pneumonia at his home at 244 Reynolds St., Kingston, on April 9, 1934.
Harris’ funeral was described by the Evening News as one of the largest in the Wyoming Valley.
Harris was born in Aberdare, South Wales, England, on Nov. 27, 1878, and immigrated to America with his parents, Thomas and Elinore Harris, and his two brothers in 1884. Harris’ middle name of Bryant was the maiden name of his mother.
“After attending the Wilkes-Barre Public Schools, Mr. Harris, at the age of 13 in 1891, obtained employment with the W.B. Bertels then engaged in the hardware business at East Market and Canal Streets,” the Wilkes-Barre Record reported of Harris’ death on April 10, 1934. Canal Street today is known as Pennsylvania Boulevard.
When W.B. Bertels was sold to another owner, Harris became an investor at 19 and eventually took majority control of the hardware business changing the name to the White Hardware Co. in 1896. White Hardware Co. began selling coal and wood stoves, hardware utensils and ceramic dishes, pots and pans, bicycles and pianos under Harris’ leadership.
Harris opened the Harris Hardware Co. by taking over the Turner-VanScoy Co. located in the Simon Long building at 52 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, in February 1909, selling household goods, tools, paints and varnishes, chicken food and cages and added a sporting goods section offering ice and roller skates, footwear and winter clothing.
In 1924, Harris moved his Harris Hardware Co. from South Main Street to Kingston Corners by purchasing the A.J. Root Co.
As he lived on South Grant Street in the Heights section of Wilkes-Barre, Harris was overwhelmingly elected to serve as a school director for the Wilkes-Barre Schools until he resigned in March 1921, when he moved his family to Reynolds Street in Kingston.
Aside from being a businessman, Harris was credited with volunteering with the YMCA and the Kis-Lyn school for boys.
“James B. Harris had never forgotten that America was the land of opportunity. He accepted all that his adopted country afforded him to rise from the humble, honest beginning to lead the way in business and in citizenry, for civil and valley-wide progress,” as the Evening News reported about Harris’ death on April 9, 1934.
The Harris Hardware Co. at Kingston Corners thrived under Harris’ sons until 1968 when the Kingston Coroners building was razed.
About two weeks before his death, Harris was stricken ill while serving as a juror at the Luzerne County Courthouse. He asked to be excused from jury service and was bedridden until his death.
“Men and women prominent in all walks of life attended the funeral services, making the funeral one of the largest held in the Wyoming Valley,” the Times Leader reported April 11, 1934.
Harris was buried in the Forty Fort Cemetery.
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