Howard A. Spangler Co. is a wholesale distributor of a wide variety of products. Our purpose is to purchase these products in quantities available from manufacturers and larger distributors, warehouse the products, and redistribute them to other businesses which cannot or prefer not to purchase in quantites required by manufacturers. What we actually are "selling" is the warehouse space for storage, and the service of delivering to many locations, plus the knowledge of the products and sources that we have acquired over many years in this business.
Howard A. Spangler Co. was started by Howard Alexander Spangler about 1955 when he was requested to supply plastic bags and hangers to laundries and dry cleaners. He gradually diversified into restaurant and janitorial supplies, then into school supplies. It was a one-man operation at the beginning, operated out of an office on Water Street, sharing space with a veterinary and public livery stable. At that time the livery was still in use and Mennonite families left their horses in the stable while they did their business and shopping in Harrisonburg. Horses were "parked" downstairs, and the upstairs was the Howard A. Spangler Co. warehouse.
In 1963 Mr. Howard Spangler moved the company to its present location at 245 Old South High Street, "The Old Foundry". In 1965 Howard Eugene Spangler, "Gene", joined the firm and began managing its operation. He expanded and upgraded this facility on several occasions. Thomas Howard Spangler, "Tom", entered the firm in 1977 as Sales manager. In 1979 Howard Spangler died and Gene Spangler became president of Howard A. Spangler Co. and Frangie Turner "Bunny" was promoted to general manager in 1988. In 1998 Gene Spangler died and Tom Spangler and Bunny Turner became the third-generation owners and active operators of the company.
