Brauer Supply

Highly Engaged Employees

Brauer pioneered in the distribution of air filters and heating systems. During the 1881's, the Company was forced out of its headquarters on Third Street by the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Project, and it was in 1940 that it moved to a five-story building at 2100 Washington. There it occupied 65000sq ft of floor space crammed with an inv... entory of heating, air-conditioning, and hot-water equipment plus replacement parts for at least sixty different manufacturers' heating stoves. Water heaters and the fittings, pipes, and parts to make them work. William H. Brauer, grandson of the founder, joined the firm in 1953 after five years in the sales department of Monsanto Chemical. A chemical engineering graduate of M.I.T., Bill Brauer developed the Company's insulation division which today features a complete line of industrial insulation materials covering a wide range of uses and conditions. 2100 Washington was home to Brauer Supply in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. Industrial insulation became an important product in the 1950's. The early 1970's brought expansion to the Company fastener division. The insulation division was housed then in a separate facility located at 330 South Newstead with facilities for office space as well as customer pick-up and rail siding. As the Company became identified as a long-established family-business, the Board of Directors decided in June of 1957 to drop the "A.G." from the name and it became simply, the "Brauer Supply Company." In 1965 the firm opened its first branch office outside of the City of St. Louis in Sikeston, Missouri. Shortly thereafter it was moved to Cape Girardeau. Now located in Jackson, Missouri, this location provides coverage for the Southeast Missouri market area. In 1968 Oscar Brauer passed the reins as president to William H. Brauer, assisted ably by long-tenured Vice-President Leonard H. Troeller. Oscar Brauer remained an active advisor to the business until his death in 1977. A fourth division - fasteners - was expanded in 1970 to complement the ...Read More