HINTON (Hinton News) – It is time for another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. Every week, local history collector William Jones discusses pieces from his collection and their significance to area history. In this edition, Jones talks about Doyle Hardware which once served the Hinton area.
To begin, Jones notes some of the hardware businesses that have been in Hinton over time. He said, “Over the years, Hinton has had its share of hardware stores and construction suppliers. From Willey’s Hardware, Hinton Hardware, Honaker Lumber, Hinton Builder Supply, and Rider Supply & Construction Co. to the company that we will be talking about in this piece, Doyle Hardware.” Jones continued, “In doing the research for this article everyone I spoke with said that Jim Doyle, the store’s owner, was such a wonderful, cheerful person, and there was no one else quite like him.”
“I found his daughter Elizabeth Doyle McGinnis on Facebook and asked her a few questions about her father and Doyle Hardware. She told me that her father opened the store sometime after World War II after he returned from his time in service and stayed in business until sometime in 1989. He had worked briefly at Western Auto before opening his own business. Mr Doyle passed away on January 2, 1995.”
According to Jones, Doyle Hardware was located in downtown Hinton on 3rd Ave. He said, “His store was originally on 3rd Avenue beside Pop’s Hot Dog Stand. But later relocated across the street to the original Briers Furniture building that was also on 3rd Avenue due to some architectural issues with the original building. It remained there until the hardware store closed before Doyle’s passing.”
“His daughter said that ‘dad never knew a stranger’. He was a lifelong resident of Hinton and Summers County. He enjoyed talking and visiting with the people that would come into his store on a daily basis. One of which was my Uncle Bob Thompson. In the 1970s, Uncle Bob had really gotten into collecting antique radios. Mr Doyle was known to have a little bit of everything in his store. So my Uncle Bob made visiting with Mr Doyle a regular stop when he was in town from Charleston to talk about antique radios and swap parts for them.”
Doyle and Jones’ Uncle shared a common interest. According to Jones, “Doyle too loved antiques and believed in the barter system. He would be called out to do an install of a part and would often take something in trade for his services. He would even lend people money to spend at the other businesses in town. They would give him an antique to hold as collateral until they could afford to pay it back. This is why his store looked more like an antique store than a hardware store.”
After speaking with McGinnis, Jones learned more about Doyle, his store and his life. He noted, “After talking with his daughter, I learned that Doyle had a wealth of knowledge of the local rivers layouts. Being the only hardware store in Hinton that sold large treble hooks, he would often get called when the fire department was searching for a drowning victim. Where he would share his knowledge of the river’s geography and tell them where the person’s body could be found based on where they were last seen when they would call him to get a hook.”
“Doyle appeared to be very unorganized, with his store resembling the set of Sanford and Son to an extent. But he could lay his hands on anything a customer ever needed in the store at a moment’s notice,” Jones said. “A funny side note about Mr. Doyle was that Leo Arthur and Bud Johnson thought they would surprise him while he was with his family on vacation and clean and organize the store. Mr. Doyle returned from vacation to find the organized store and was very amused. In only a few days, he had his store back in what most people would consider shambles, which is the organization he preferred.”
Continuing the story, Jones said, “This provided many laughs for him and his family for years to come. On one of my uncles many trips to Doyle Hardware to visit Mr. Doyle, he gave him this 1930s tin advertisement for his hardware store that advertised Deming Water Pumps. My uncle and grandfather had placed it on the wall of his barn in Talcott, where it remained since the mid 1970s until last week when I brought it home to write this piece.”
To conclude, Jones stated, “I could go on for pages about the stories that I learned about Mr. Doyle while researching this piece. But two things stick out to me that most people may not remember. One is that in 1976 Doyle ran for sheriff of Summers County. Johnny Jones wrote his campaign song that was played on WMTD, a local radio station. The other is that he was elected and served on the Summers County Board of Education in the 1970s and 80s.”
This brings us to the end of this edition. Be sure to come back next week for another Peek into Summers County’s Past. Did you know about Doyle Hardware?
If you have a story from the area’s history that you would like to share, send us an email to news@hintonnews.com.
