History

In 1829, 16 year old George Worthington visited Cleveland and noticed that workers digging the Ohio & Erie Canal lacked proper tools. He promptly returned to New York, purchased picks and shovels, and shipped them back to Cleveland, kicking-off the 162 year run of the George Worthington Company. Ultimately the company became one of the nation’s leading hardware wholesalers, employing 450 people, selling more than 35,000 items and supplying more than 1,500 Sentry Hardware stores. By the time the company moved from its original home in the Warehouse District in 1984, it was Cleveland longest operating business. It had spread into a dozen contiguous buildings, with fork lift drivers navigating its halls from 9th and St Clair to 6th and Lakeside. Today four of those buildings have been painstakingly restored into Worthington Yards, a lasting tribute to an iconic Cleveland company.