Category:C Y Schelly & Brother Company

The C Y Schelly and Brother hardware store was established at 32 North Seventh Street in June, 1883. Its founding partners were Cyrus Y. Schelly and Joel P. Schelly. Several years later, James Y Schelly, another brother and W. J. C. Troxell were brought into the firm as partners. The building was a new structure, built by L. H. Yeager when the hardware business was established. Cyrus Schelly came to Allentown in 1869 and entered the employment of his uncle, M. S. Young, at whose business he learned the hardware trade.

The business sold hardware, paint, wall coverings, bicycles and many other items initially to the public, and its success led to the acquisition of the adjoining property at 34 North Seventh at the beginning of 1913. In 1923, 36 North Seventh Street was acquired to expand the business again. From the time the business was started until December, 1931, Cyrus Schelly was at the business every day, sometimes until late in the evening. The business became prominent in the community of Allentown and in the hardware trade throughout the United States.

In December 1931, Cyrus Schelly became ill and left the day-to-day operation of the business to his partners, and semi-retired. He passed away on February 13th, 1933. In the years after World War II, the business began to wholesale to hardware stores in rural to communities, taking advantage of the fact that those dealers did not have ready access to metropolitan markets. Schelly received his products in bulk shipments from Philadelphia, where it arrived in Allentown by railroad or tractor-trailers. Schelly then distributed products to rural stores by motor vehicle.

In 1944, the firm acquired a large tract of land in the West End of Allentown at 513-23 North 16th Street where it first built a storage warehouse in 1948. The business also set up a subsidiary, Penn Allen Glass Company which operated from the Sixteenth Street location. It also acquired a large warehouse with a rail siding on the Lehigh Valley Railroad west end spur, which ran tracks into the property along with the Trexler Lumber Yard. This was to accommodate large lots of merchandise and large equipment it sold to commercial customers. In 1952, it moved all of its business to the new location, closing it's Seventh Street properties. By then, 95% of the business was wholesaling, although a small retail store remained for customers.

On March 30th, 1973, the property on Sixteenth Street was destroyed by a general alarm fire which was set by an arsonist at the adjoining Trexler Lumber Company mill and storage yard. The company buildings were completely gutted by the fire. As a result, the management of C Y Schelly decided to close the hardware business and focus the business on Penn Allen Glass wholesaling business, which sells windows, doors, panels and other glass products to this day.