John Robertson started an industry giant 90 years ago inside an Alliance barn
ALLIANCE ‒ From humble beginnings to a sprawling campus, the company the late John Robertson started in 1934 is celebrating 90 years in business.
Robertson Heating Supply is marking the milestone with its "90th Anniversary Expo" on Wednesday at its headquarters in Alliance, located at 2155 W. Main St.
The invite-only event starts 10 a.m. and ends 5 p.m.
The company is expecting at least 65 vendors and 250 contractors, or about 400 people, to attend the celebration. The featured speaker is Navy SEAL Team Six leader Robert J. O'Neill.
Robertson also will be offering training classes in its new tech lab from 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. All class participants will earn one hour of Ohio Continuing Education Unit credit.
"It's great to have them as a staple here in the community and one of the first in the industrial park, to take leap of faith and go out there," said Rick Baxter, president of Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce.
Robertson is now a fourth generation company
John Robertson started his family's wholesale business for HVAC services with a $500,000 personal loan from bank. He later added plumbing services. He had three employees and they operated out of a barn on Prospect Street in Alliance. The barn no longer exists, except in photos.
"John worked with his father and they sold coal," his granddaughter Sue Neil said. "He was selling coal to contractors or dealers, and those contractors said, 'why don't you sell the stokers?' If John would sell the stokers, the contractors would buy from him, which made sense because they used coal."
By the 1960s and 1970s, the company expanded with branches in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Later, it would add locations in Michigan, Indiana and West Virginia, according to a company magazine. In fact, Robertson has 39 locations and more than 375 employees.
The corporate office, in Alliance's Commerce Park, is 68,000 square feet, and the distribution center is 217,000.
"They've had just some some really great growth over the years, too," Baxter said.
John Robertson died in 1995.
His grandson, Scott Robertson, has led the company since 1991. His sisters Sue Neil, Lori Keller and Linda Wonner − along with his father, Ed − have played roles with the company. A fourth generation of the Robertson family also works there and it is hoped they'll eventually run it.
Neil, the former human resources director, is semi-retired.
She said the family is "very proud" that the business their grandfather started continues to thrive in the industry, expanding into new states and evolving with technology.
"The foundation that he gave us that we built upon is what really makes us proud, and the fact that we've got our fourth generation working for us, as well, is sort of unheard of, especially in our industry," Neil said. "So we're very proud."
Robertson has a new T.E.C.H. lab in Alliance
A new feature on the second level of the the company's headquarters is the John Robertson T.E.C.H. lab, which stands for Technical Education Center for Heating.
The spacious classroom has 35 seats for instructional work, several workstations, almost a dozen furnaces and air conditioning units from Rheem and Ruud to train technicians.
"A furnace today is not what a furnace was in 1934," Neil said. "So much technology has changed. So our contractors have to keep up with their training," and the lab offers the classes.
Baxter: "Just a great family."
The Robertson family, along with their company, remains a staple in the Alliance community. They've supported the YMCA, Elks, the Robertson Community Center and others. In 2005, John Robertson's wife, Virginia, started a charitable fund to benefit children and families. She died in 2009.
"They have a lot of things that they're involved in behind the scenes that people don't even know about that they're supporting," Baxter said. "Just a great family, very philanthropic in nature. We're just thankful to have them in our community."
Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Robertson Heating Supply in Alliance turns 90
