In 1929, L. U. "Casey" Noland (above right) pioneered the use of corporate aircraft in Virginia with the purchase of a Curtiss Robin airplane (top) which allowed him to visit branches like the one in Durham, N.C. (lower photo).

About Us

Our History
L. U. "Casey" Noland, an orphan with a fourth-grade education, was an innovator all his life. At age 26, he left the security of an engineering job in Newport News, Va., to start a mechanical contracting firm with a partner, T.B. Clifford, and a capital investment of $10,000. It was 1915, and the war in Europe was creating a bustling economy in Newport News. The Noland-Clifford Company did a booming business, but materials were scarce. With no local plumbing supply houses, supplies had to be shipped from Baltimore.

To avoid delays, Noland began stockpiling materials that he expected to use over several months, while other plumbers continued to buy on a job-by-job basis. Soon those who ran short of materials began calling Noland to buy from him. Seeing this need for a wholesale distributor, Noland opened Newport Plumbing & Mill Supply Co. in 1919.

	A Noland sales counter in the '40s

He expanded quickly, opening supply houses in Roanoke, Va., and Goldsboro and Winston-Salem, N.C. In 1922, he consolidated the four operations into a corporate entity known as Noland Company. He expanded the businesses quickly, opening branches and running them successfully in small towns where other wholesalers had tried and failed. He recruited talented people by offering them training and career opportunities, good benefits, and a stake in the company's profits--all elements of today's Noland Company.

In the Great Depression of the 1930s, when countless businesses were failing, Noland found ways to survive and even expand. In 1930, four branches opened, and in 1938 an Electrical Department was added to what was up until then a plumbing and industrial supplies business. Refrigeration supplies (later evolving into HVAC equipment and supplies) were added in 1940.

Lloyd U. Noland, Jr.

At his death in 1952, Casey Noland had built a company with 25 locations. His son, Lloyd U. Noland, Jr. took the helm and during his 36 years of leadership expanded the Company to 101 branches.

Lloyd U. Noland, III

In 1987, Noland Jr. retired as chairman and CEO and became head of Noland Properties, Inc., a newly created property management subsidiary. He turned over the reigns of Noland Company to the third generation, Lloyd U. Noland, III, who has carried on the best traditions of its founder while further strengthening the Company. He expanded the use of technology, including ushering in the era of e-commerce, restructured the organization to prepare for the 21st century, and implemented new inventory management practices that enhanced our ability to provide customers with what they need, when they need it.

Today, Noland's sales are approaching $600 million, with locations in 13 states. In May 2005, the Company was acquired and taken private by WinWholesale, one of the nation’s largest wholesale distributors, based in Dayton, Ohio.