H.W. Herrell Distributing Co. is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
The founders of the company, the late Harvey and Irma Herrell, began operating the business on Jan. 19, 1923, out of their kitchen and a single building called the “Ice House.”
The company has grown and changed over the past century, and now the beer distributor is housed in a 43,725-square-foot warehouse at 5940 Second St. in Imperial. It has 35 full-time employees and an additional 15 seasonal employees and distributes mostly Anheuser-Busch products to about 350 retailers throughout Jefferson County.
“It is a pretty amazing thing to reach 100 years,” said company president Carol Ann Herrell-Schanz, Harvey’s and Irma’s granddaughter.
Herrell-Schanz, 62, of Barnhart said she feels blessed to head up the business that her grandparents started and her father, the late Donald “Big Don” Herrell, and then her brother, the late Donald “Donnie” Herrell, continued to grow.
“I’m thankful for God bestowing this blessing on me and my family, and for my family members who came before me to make this company what it is today,” she said.
Herrell-Schanze said her family wouldn’t have been so successful without all their dedicated employees over the years.
“I want the employees to know how much I appreciate them because they are what makes this company what it is,” she said.
Vice president Mark Lednick, 45, of Festus said Herrell Distributing will celebrate its anniversary with employees tonight, Jan. 19, and the business will be closed Friday, Jan. 20.
He also said the company will be recognized by Anheuser-Busch as an Ambassador of Excellence this year because of how well it has performed for the beer giant, which supplies about 95 percent of the product Herrell Distributing sells.
“Timing-wise it couldn’t have worked out better,” Lednick said of the company receiving the Anheuser-Busch honor in its 100th year.
The start
The business is named after its founder, Harvey William Herrell, and while it is best known for selling and distributing Anheuser-Busch beer products, that was not how things began.
In 1923, Prohibition was in place, and Herrell Distributing could only sell beer that contained no more than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume.
So, Herrell Distributing began by selling Anheuser-Busch’s “near beer,” Grape Bouquet and Malt Nutrine, as well as ginger ale, ice, coal, strawberries and gravel, according to the company’s website, abwholesaler.com/h-w-herrell-distributing-co.
After the end of Prohibition, which was in place from 1920 through 1933, Herrell Distributing began to grow. From 1942 through 1946, the “Ice House” was torn down to make room for an office area, and property was purchased to build a garage big enough for three to four trucks and a loading dock, coolers and storage space.
Herrell-Schanz said she did not know her grandfather very well. He died in 1968.
“My biggest thing was when my grandpa was alive, he had a recliner that he sat in,” she said. “I would wait for him to get out of the recliner because when he got out of the recliner, you usually found change out of his pocket that had fallen out and down to the floor.”
She remembers her grandmother well, though.
“My grandmother belonged to the Catholic church. She went to church every Sunday. I would attend with her. When I got older and could drive, I would take her to church and then we would go out and have lunch or dinner. She always dressed very fashionable.”
Next generation
After World War II, Donald “Big Don” Herrell completed a three-year stint playing professional baseball for the St. Louis Browns. After that, he began working for his father and mother at H.W. Herrell Distributing.
He became the company’s president when it was incorporated in 1963.
Under Donald “Big Don” Herrell’s leadership, the company experienced rapid growth, and in 1983, it delivered 1,006,754 cases of Anheuser-Busch products to retailers, a sales record at the time, according to the company.
Herrell-Schanz said one of the things her father instilled in her was the importance of supporting local businesses.
“At that time, my friends would shop at South County Mall, and we would go to stores on Main Street in Festus,” she said. “He was very much about supporting businesses in Jefferson County.”
Third generation
Donald “Donnie” Herrell become president of the company in 1989 after Donald “Big Don” Herrell died in 1988 and Irma Herrell died in 1989.
The 1990s were the start of another boom for Herrell Distributing, which started selling nearly 1.8 million cases of Anheuser-Busch products annually in Jefferson County.
Herrell Distributing also expanded in 2001, with sales and marketing facilities added to its site, and again in 2011, when a warehouse with drive-through capabilities, additional space to load and unload trucks and more efficient storage areas were constructed.
“Employees refer to it as the gold years when Donnie was president,” Lednick said. “After Big Don passed away and Donnie took over, this thing took off like a rocket ship. It had grown for years, but there were a lot of brands introduced by Anheuser-Busch during Donnie’s tenure. A lot of the biggest brands we see today in our market were introduced during Donnie’s tenure.
“He took the legacy that his family set for him and took it to the next level. Carol continues to do that today.”
Herrell-Schanz become the company’s president and majority shareholder after Donald “Donnie” Herrell died in 2013. Donald “Donnie” Herrell’s wife, Donna Herrell, is a minority shareholder.
Herrell-Schanz already had worked for the company collecting drivers’ receipts when she was a teenager and helping total the receipts in the early morning hours in her early 20s.
“When my brother passed unexpectedly, it was kind of like, ‘Here you go,’” she said. “ Because I was the next person in line.”
The company appears poised to remain in the family’s hands as Herrell-Schanz’s son, Nolan Schanz, and daughter, Tabitha Brauch, work for Herrell Distributing.
“My son is in a program with Anheuser-Busch right now to be groomed to eventually do what Mark is doing now as vice president,” Herrell-Schanz said. “(Brauch) works in administration.”
Part of the community
Both Herrell-Schanz and Lednick said Herrell Distributing’s success also can be attributed to its loyal customers.
“Eight out of every 10 consumers in the county drink something that we sell,” Lednick said. “We are very fortunate. We owe this all to the consumers for being very loyal to us for the last 100 years.”
Herrell-Schanz said it’s important to the company to give back, so there aren’t many community events held in the county without a contribution from Herrell Distributing.
“I will do everything I can for my community, the people in my community and my employees,” Herrell-Schanz said. “We always try to give back with a product donation, raffle item or whatever they need.”
Lednick said the hope is Herrell Distributing will be around for another 100 years.
“I couldn’t think of a better place to work,” he said. “I can’t thank the consumers of Jefferson County, retailers and employees enough for all they have done for us these past 100 years.”
