NEW BETHLEHEM – Hetrick’s Farm Supply has been a New Bethlehem staple since its founding in the mid-20th century, the family–owned and –operated business evolving from almost exclusively serving the heavy machinery needs of local farmers to, more recently, a broader clientele looking for sub-compact tractors and outdoor power equipment.
The business began in October 1952 when brothers Charles and Darl Hetrick, both dairy farmers, partnered to buy Merle Laughlin’s New Bethlehem-based International Harvester distributorship. Without a dedicated building, however, the siblings started selling tractors and parts out of their barn, located across the road from the current location on 772 Olean Trail.
“Darl had the idea and Dad helped with the money,” noted Charles’s daughter, Penny Kunselman, who, along with brother Marc Hetrick, represents the second generation currently working at the business.
She continued, “Dad was a cow man, he thought it was the greatest thing. He milked cows in Miola and he came down here to help with the business. Mom and the kids moved down in January 1953.”
Eventually, as farm machinery became bigger and the business grew, the brothers had to expand. The business moved from a building constructed near the barn to its present site during September 1987.
Though the Hetrick brothers started the business, Kunselman gives her mother, Olive, credit for helping organize the operation.
“Dad was so frustrated, they couldn’t get anything together. The parts would come in in boxes and they’d start selling out of the boxes instead of putting things away where they belonged,” recalled Kunselman. “She [Olive] came out and she straightened them all out. She put the parts away where they belonged, sold parts, did everything at the counter.”
“Everybody says if you would tell her what you wanted, she’d go back and pull it out without having to look up where it was. She was very smart.”
Kunselman believes the Hetrick brothers’ reputation for putting farmers first was a key factor in establishing the business.
“People came from far and wide. They tried to take care of the farmers because they were farmers,” she offered. “Dad and Darl would sell them stuff without money, they had open accounts and people would bring them money when they could.”
Over the years, the business evolved, distributing farm machinery for different manufacturers as contracts expired and suppliers changed. Kunselman observed that today, the business has shifted more toward the sale of parts for existing heavy machinery and offering smaller tractors, such as those used for mowing fields or doing utility work at camps and farms.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the family nature of the business.
All of Charles’s and Darl’s children worked at the business in various capacities and for differing lengths of time, making it almost a family rite of passage.
Mike and Marc, two of Charles’s sons, took over the business from their father, devoting their lives to farming and selling tractors.
Charles’s other children — Dean, Dale, Timothy, Judy Smith, Janet Shoemaker and Cindy Hetrick — all put in time.
Likewise, Darl’s son, Jimmy, worked there.
Today, the third generation keeps things going — Marc’s sons Gary and Doug, as well as Mike’s children Chad, Clint, and Laura Heasley.
Because of Marc Hetrick, Penny Kunselman, and the younger generation, Hetrick’s Farm Supply continues meeting the farming and lawn needs of the community it serves.