L.E. Whitford Co.

About

"Lenny" Whitford founded the business in 1948 and has kept it locally owned and operated ever since.

Story

After his service in the military, Leonard Whitford worked as a roofer for quite a few years and decided to find another line or work. Being a self starter and having a strong work ethic, he originally started the company as a power equipment business where he sold and serviced many types of equipment for residential as well as commercial customers. As with most small companies, there were slow periods. In order to supplement his income in the 1960's Len decided to purchased a J.R. Braithwaite, a one man shop that specialized in locksmithing as well as gunsmithing. In 1973 he sold off the power equipment portion of the business and centered the companies attention on security hardware. At the time, the company consisted of Elsie, his wife of 50 years, himself and usually an additional employee to assist in the counter or service work. In 1998 Leonard Whitford, Jr. (Lee) and his wife Denise purchased the business from Len and Elsie. The company gradually migrated from not only selling and servicing hardware, but specializing in restricted key systems, mechanical and electronic access controls, fire/life safety code issues. The company has grown to 9 employees, 5 service vehicle and covers all of Connecticut as well as surrounding states.