The History of Reeves-Wiedeman
Since its beginning in 1887, Reeves-Wiedeman Company has been a locally-
owned family business. The name comes from the families involved; the
Reeves family until 1940, the Wiedeman family from 1940 to the present time.
City directories of the late 1800's show that in 1887, William K. Reeves
a bookkeeper; his brother Edward K. Reeves, a plumber; Elizabeth (Reeves)
Gray, and her husband, Alexander Gray formed Gray Plumbing & Heating at
1005 Walnut in Kansas City, Missouri. The firm sold and installed
plumbing supplies. In 1894 the business moved around the corner to
113-115 East 10th St.
Another brother, Louis H. Reeves, who had been a bookkeeper at Crane Company, joined the
family business. On November 29, 1897, Louis apparently split off from the others,
incorporated as Reeves Supply Company and moved into new space at 1008 Grand.
In the 1920's and 1930's the business moved to 1304 McGee and was operated by Louis along
with his loyal assistant, Edward R. "Eddie" Victor. Louis worked in the office,
and was well-known for his morning suit, spat, derby hat, and cane, which is said to have
contained a sword! Eddie handled the warehouse and delivery.
The two men earned a good reputation in the industry developing strong loyalties to both
manufacturers and customers. Reeves became the first American Standard distributor west of
the Mississippi River.
In the meantime, Walter A. Wiedeman, who was born in Chicago, son of a poor immigrant,
moved to Kansas City with his family, and at a very young age went to work at US Supply
Company. Wally had learned the business by working in every job in the business -
warehouse, office and sales, while attending night school. He was there from 1915 until
1939. At that time he became interested in striking out
on his own. He was attracted to Reeves Supply Company because of
the availability of the American Standard fixture line. Louis Reeves wanted to retire, but
had no-one to take over the business.
In early 1940, Wally bought Reeves Supply Company. To recognize the 53 years Louis Reeves
and his family were involved in the business, Wally renamed the company and we have kept
the name ever since. In 1946, the business was officially incorporated in Missouri as
Reeves-Wiedeman Company.
Wally's business grew from friendships he built over many years.
He is remembered for most for his surprises and gag gifts. He always had something in in
his pocket for those he met! His sons John A Wiedeman and Ted A Wiedeman joined him in the
late forties and early fifties. They had learned the the
business by growing up in it. About that time Eddie Victor who had helped Wally those
first few years on his own, retired.
After the war, in the 50's, business was booming, so the company built and moved from 2611
Warwick to a larger, more modern facility, at 2711 Warwick. The company had now grown to
40 employees with branch operations in Wichita (1948), Kansas City, KS (1950) and Topeka
(1957). In 1956 company headquarters in KCMO was completely destroyed by fire. Thanks to
good friends among customers, manufacturers,and even our competitors, we were able to
recover from the fire and continue growing stronger than ever.
In 1966 a branch was opened in Manhattan, KS. By this time John & Ted
were running the company. In 1969, Wally's son-in-law Jack Rogler, joined the company, and
brought us into the computer age. In the seventies we started a branch in the Ozarks, got
into the heating and air conditioning equipment business, duct fabrication business, later
closing all of these. In 1975 we also opened a branch in Lawrence, and built and moved to
our new headquarters and distribution warehouse in Lenexa, Ks in 1976.
In the mid seventies, and during the eighties, the third generation of Wiedemans began
with the company. Ted G Wiedeman (Ted Jr) & Walter A (Wally) Wiedeman, came on board
in 1976. Kurt A. Wiedeman joined us in 1983 and
William P. (Bill) Wiedeman joined us in 1986. The new generation reintroduced the computer
age to the company and began taking on new responsibilities leading to eventually taking
over the management and ownership of the company from
John & Ted in February, 1994.
The company opened branches in St. Joseph (1987), Riverside (1989), relocated
Kansas City (1991), Lee's Summit (1994), Leavenworth (1996), Olathe (2000), Emporia
(2000), and Maryville (2001). Wichita was reopened (2002) after we were out of the market
for 12 years and Independence in 2005. Junction City opened in May 2006 and Waldo (KCMO)
opened in September 2006. Liberty is scheduled to open in 2007. All of our locations are
now self service stores, on line to headquarters.
Today, the company still strives to provide the best value in residential and commercial
plumbing products, to plumbing professionals, here in the Heart of America!
Return to Home Page |
