The Banfield Company
John Banfield founded Banfield Brothers general store in 1875 and ran it with his two sons, George and Harry. They began operations in the Clark Block. In 1898, they built a two-story brick building at Front and Warner Streets. Over its nearly 110 years in operation, the company sold hardware and building supplies, farm equipment and wagons, coal, furniture, and Ford and Studebaker cars. In its heyday, it employed 20 people. In 1909, Mark Banfield, Samuel H. English, and Hawley A. Briggs purchased the stock of goods and the building, and incorporated the business as the Banfield Company. One or more members of the Banfield family retained partial ownership of the company until Thomas J. Banfield and his sister Ruth Hinz closed the store in 1981.
 The Banfield Company, c. 1940 |
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 Star-Gazette, April 3, 1982In April 1982, the building that had housed the Banfield Company was destroyed by fire. It had been vacant since the store closed in 1981. Arson was suspected but no one was ever convicted of the crime. Photograph taken by T.C. Frye for the Star-Gazette |
 The site where the Banfield Company building once stood is now Banfield Park. |
 Coal scuttleThe Banfield Company sold a wide variety of products including coal, hardware and farm supplies, Wear-Ever aluminum cookware, pressure cookers, Philco and General Electric radios, Stromberg-Carlson televisions, Reo lawn mowers, crab grass killer, General Electric and Westinghouse appliances, boots and shoes, Durham Duplex razors, gasoline, horses, and Studebakers. |
 Durham Duplex safety razor, c. 1920s |
 General Electric radio, c. 1940s |
 Wear-Ever brand aluminum pot, mid-1900s |
 1915 Studebaker advertisement showing Banfield Company as a sub dealer in Van Etten |