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The JC Whitney Story
J.C. Whitney is the largest direct marketer of auto parts and
accessories. The company began life in 1915 as The Warshawsky
Company, a scrap metal yard on the south side of Chicago. The
company's founder was a Lithuanian immigrant named Israel Warshawsky.
Throughout World War I, Israel bought failed auto manufacturers and
added new parts to his inventory. The Warshawky Company continued to
grow, even during the Great Depression.
In 1934, Israel's son Roy joined his father at the company after
graduating from the University of Chicago. Roy proposed expanding
out from the Chicago-area with a nationwide catalog and placed an ad
in Popular Mechanics for sixty dollars. The ad offered readers a
"giant auto parts catalog" if they sent in twenty-five cents and
response to the ad was huge.
Roy took charge after his father's death in 1943. He continued to
grow the business through World War II, always developing new
strategies in response to changing customer needs.
Roy retired in 1991.
In 2002, The Riverside Company acquired JC Whitney.
How a 1915 scrap metal yard grew to the largest direct marketer of
"everything automotive."
Chicago 1915. Henry Ford's Model T had been in mass production for
only seven years, when a Lithuanian immigrant named Israel
Warshawsky decided to climb on the running board of the emerging
automotive industry. As cars began to break down, Israel saw an
opportunity to mine replacement parts from derelict automobiles. He
bought a piece of property on the city's south side at State Street
and Archer Avenue and opened a scrap metal yard, The Warshawsky
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