Category:Merritt Lumber, Allentown, Pennsylvania

The Merritt Lumber Company was a lumber and home improvement company in Allentown from 1940 to 1977.

Merritt Lumber was originally founded in Reading, PA in 1880 by Thomas and A Howard Merritt. Over the decades, the company sold lumber, finished millwork, hardware, paint and other products for the construction industry.

In 1944, the company opened a branch in Allentown at 927 Hamilton Street. The company opened two stores, one Merritt's Gift Shop, which sold small home decorative items and the Merritt Lumber Company, which sold construction materials to both contractors and to the general public. It's retail store on Hamilton Street selling primarily appliances, landscaping, tools, paint, as well as the other items needed for general home maintenance and improvement. It stored its lumber and larger products in bulk for sales to contractors at its milling and storage yard, located at 518 Chestnut Street in the Allentown suburb of Emmaus.

After World War II, the company prospered and expanded, opening stores in various towns in southeastern Pennsylvania (Reading, Pottstown, Boyertown, Perkiomenville). In 1962, the company purchased the Tragus Lumber Company in the Allentown suburb of Dorneyville, taking over a 6,000 square foot property at 3320 Hamilton Boulevard. With the move to Dorneyville, the company consolidated its separate Gift Shop and consumer products store into a large home improvement center. The contractor facility in Emmaus remaining in place.

In 1965 the firm faced financial troubles and went through a bankruptcy reorganization. During the reorganization, the company was sold to F Willard Harper, a former mayor of Allentown. Also the company closed its home improvement center in Dorneyville and consolidated its business at its 918 Chestnut Street location in Emmaus.

In the mid 1970s, the company again faced financial difficulties, having a debt of over $600,000 in late 1976. The end of the company was imminent, It's other location in southeastern Pennsylvania previously having been consolidated and closed. Its contracting facility was closed in Emmaus on February 8th, 1977. The consumer store was seized by its major creditor, the First Valley Bank on March 2d 1977 for unpaid debts, being padlocked and closed.

The company was subsequently liquidated in 1977. It's assets and merchandise being sold.

Camera location	40° 34′ 42″ N, 75° 31′ 26″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.578333; -75.523889

- Dorneyville Location