History
Blending the strong and colorful history of the past with the entrepreneurial management and technology of today, Republic is well-positioned to meet the ever-changing needs and challenges of our industries and our customers.
Our founder, Joseph Stephen Kimmel, Sr., was born on February 12, 1885 in Dayton, Ohio. At an early age, he knew that it was essential for him, his brother, and his three sisters to work for the fundamentals in life. His first steady job was with the Dayton Public Library where he returned books to the proper shelves.
As a high school senior, he decided to pursue a career in law. Studying five days a week by the light of a kerosene lamp, he passed the Ohio Bar Exam in 1912 on his first try. His law certificate still hangs in Republic's conference room today.
Kimmel soon joined the sales department of the National Cash Register Company (NCR), Dayton's largest industry at the time. He loved his work and quickly rose through the ranks from secretary to assistant sales manager.
Despite his highly successful career with NCR, both Kimmel and Tom Watson (his immediate superior at National Cash Register) were discharged in 1916. Watson subsequently found International Business Machines (IBM). Shortly thereafter, Kimmel became a friend of Charles E. Kettering, the famous inventor at General Motors who offered him a distributorship for Delco Light in Davenport, Iowa. Delco was the initial 32-volt system for rural electrification. Kimmel accepted the offer, and borrowed $5,000 from his two working sisters to start his business in 1916.
It was a serious challenge in the early 20th century, battling muddy roads in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. He demonstrated from a Model-T Ford pickup equipped with an operating 850-watt Delco generator and a set of batteries. His dealer organization sold 12,500 installations on eastern Iowa and western Illinois farms. Unfortunately, Delco Light met its demise when the Rural Electrification Program (REA) was introduced by the federal government in 1932.
When General Motors made entry into the field of mechanical refrigeration, Kimmel became a Frigidaire distributor, pioneering mechanical refrigeration and air conditioning in the Quad City area. From this distributorship, Kimmel developed the Electric Equipment Company, which matured into the Republic Electric Company named by Kimmel out of pure “love for my country.” Along those same lines, Kimmel chose the defiant American Eagle to serve as the company’s trademark.
Today, Republic is thriving in its third generation, and in the past 95 years, the local family business has emerged as one of the largest independent wholesaler distributors in the Midwest.
