Berwyn, Penn’s Fritz Lumber Co. is closing business this fall after 153 years in business.
Owner William “Bill” H. Fritz III is planning to retire, he told Main Line Media News. Bill’s son, William Howard Fritz IV, who is 62 himself, plans to take some time off and write a book about the business.
Blogger Pattye Benson says the business is the oldest in Berwyn. The William H. Fritz Lumber Company was founded in 1863, Benson writes, when Berwyn was known as Reeseville and President Abraham Lincoln was still in office.
Main Line columnist Ray Hoffman speculates that there is already big box interest in the area now that Fritz Lumber will be closing.