Ellis Ace Hardware Rental & RadioShack"Illinois' Oldest Family Owned Hardware Store"

Let the Helpful Ellis Family help you with all of your projects!  From plumbing to painting we can help you tackle any job big or small!  Need help matching that stain perfectly?  John is our expert!  Trouble hooking up all of your electronics?  Let Michael help!  Need to find just the right color to bring out your fireplace?  Jenny has an eye for color.  Struggling to find that perfect greeting card?  Sandra knows them all by heart!  
Maybe your looking for that thingamajig or flippity flap?  Dave speaks your language!

Pictured L to R:  John Ellis, Sandra Ellis, David Ellis, Jenny Ellis, Michael Ellis

Our "Claim to Fame"

Founded in 1872, Ellis Hardware & Rental has been family owned and operated for over 135 years. Located in historic Seneca Illinois which is home of the LST Shipyards, nostalgic I&M Canal, and the last standing grain elevator on the I&M Canal. 

     Brothers David & John Ellis are the 4th generation to run the store with their wives Jenny and Sandra Ellis. David's son Michael joined the store in 1993 and continues on as the 5th generation.

     Joel Wallace Ellis founded the business in downtown Seneca, handling everything from postal service and gasoline to clothing and hardware. He passed the business down on his death to his son Elmer. Elmer died in 1947 and passed the store to his son, Norbert. When Norbert died suddenly in 1953, his wife Frieda Ellis re-opened the store against the advice of family and friends and continued the store with two small children.

     Frieda still tells stories of threading pipe by hand and measuring nails by the pound while the customers looked on.  Frieda, now in her 90’s, recently retired from the store after working daily doing the books and paying the bills.

Ellis Ace Hardware & Rental is

Illinois’ Oldest Family Owned

Hardware Store

News Update!

Ellis Ace Hardware, Rental and RadioShack will receive the Illinois State Historical Society"s 2009 Centennial Award this fall.

The Illinois State Historical Society 2009 Centennial Awards program seeks corporations and nonprofit organizations that have conducted business for 100 years or more.

Successful applicants must show continuous operation for a century or more and have been incorporated in Illinois. To qualify, centennial corporations must provide evidence of continuous operation for 100 years or more. Acceptable documentation included copies of original charters and minutes to corporate meetings, as well as newspaper articles and city directories published contemporaneously with the business"s founding.

Ellis Ace Hardware was able to provide copies of the La Salle County Biographical and Genealogical Record, which showed evidence the Ellis family has continuously owned and operated the hardware business in Seneca since 1872. Joel W. Ellis came to Seneca in 1872 from Hennepin after serving in the Army and began with a lumber business, which expanded to hardware, farm machinery and implements. Ellis expanded to a building on Main Street in Seneca and in 1890 Ellis was appointed to postmaster of Seneca and continued his hardware business. The business has been handed down from generation to generation and a new building was constructed in the late 1970s on South Main Street in Seneca. Ellis Hardware currently employs six members of the Ellis family representing the fourth, fifth and sixth generations.

The Ellis family will accept its award Saturday, Oct. 3, at a reception at the Executive Mansion in Springfield. The Centennial Awards Program, established in 1984, has honored more than 1,100 businesses around the state. Award recipients receive a plaque inscribed with the names of the standing Illinois governor and president of the Society, use of the Society"s Centennial Awards logo on their business letterhead, a year"s membership in the Society and statewide recognition.

Who We Are

Located in Historic Seneca Illinois, Ellis Ace Hardware, Rental & RadioShack is a family owned establishment that is commited to our community and pride ourselves on superior customer service.  We are proud members of the Illinois River Area Chamber of Commerce, The Seneca Business Association, The Midwest Hardware Association, and are partners of the Hertiage Corridor Visitor's & Convention Bureau. 

Pictures From Our History

The first documented picture of our business in the 1800's

Tracy Ellis, son of postmaster Joel W. Ellis at the Seneca Post Office located in the store on Main Street

The Senecca Post Office located in the hardware store in 1909

Joel Wallace Ellis and his son Tracy Ellis at the Seneca Post Office in 1909

Downtown Seneca in the 1920's