Both Tinklenberg Lumber and Hardware and Country Lumber have enjoyed long histories in the Edgerton area.  These two lumberyards have served the needs of the local communities for about 40 years.  As of February 1, the owners of Tinklenberg Lumber and Hardware have purchased Country Lumber.

Huck Tinklenberg, co-owner of Country Lumber, and Allen Brands, a 30-year employee of Country Lumber, will be joining the staff at Tinklenberg Lumber and Hardware.

In 1976, Howard Landhuis, with his son Randy, along with Adrian and Wayne Kooiman, purchased a lumberyard from Alfred Kreun. That was the beginning of Country Lumber, a rural lumberyard located between Edgerton and Leota.

In 1981, Le and Elaine Tinklenberg started Tinklenberg Lumber and Concrete in Edgerton.

In 1983, Huck Tinklenberg, married to Dawn Kooiman, a sister to Adrian and Wayne Kooiman, started managing what had been called Great Plains Supply, a lumber company that was located in what would later become the Edgerton Pizza Ranch.

Huck would leave that position and move to the rural Country Lumber location in 1986. In 1992, Huck and Randy Landhuis took over ownership of Country Lumber.

Le and Elaine sold their business to their daughter Sue and her husband Dar Van Essen in 2002.  In 2014, Dar and Sue purchased Gord’s Hardware Hank in Edgerton and moved that business to their location on the southeast corner of Edgerton.  A year later, their son Dustin and his wife Joni became co-owners of the business. Since that time, they have bought out Dustin’s parents and become the sole owners of the Edgerton lumberyard.

Last fall, Dustin approached Huck about the possibility of purchasing Country Lumber.  Huck’s partner, Randy, had partially retired in 2017 and the workload at both lumber yards was proving to be onerous.

Huck said that when he was approached by the Van Essens, after putting some thought into it, he realized that working together was a good solution. Things were so busy and it was getting hard to stay caught up on work.

“We are both really busy,” Huck said. “And as hard as it is to get and keep employees, I thought that maybe we can do this together.”