Once upon a time, there really was a Tinker Shop just off Tinker Street in Woodstock, on Rock City Road. Folks went there to get their electric motors repaired, back in the days when electric motors were a newfangled thing. “It was originally started by my grandfather, Henry O. Houst, in 1932. He partnered with Adolf Heckeroth,” Ned Houst relates. “He had been involved with design work for the electrical switching system for the New York City subways, although he did not have a formal degree in electrical engineering. Over time, the Tinker Shop grew into more of a hardware store, and ultimately moved into one of the stores diagonally across the street.”
And so it was that H. Houst & Son was born, destined to become both a mainstay of downtown Woodstock commerce and a reliable resource for the community’s emergency services, arts and social service organizations. It was around the end of World War II, as Ned tells the tale, that Henry O.’s son Henry L., Ned’s father, purchased the building at 4 Mill Hill Road that still houses the venerable hardware emporium. “Most of the male members of the family were still not back from the war, so his daughters moved all the stuff across the street. And there was a lot of stuff!”
In the early ‘50s, Henry O. passed, and Henry L. and his brother Milton became the co-owners of the business. But, notes Ned, “My father was employed by Firestone Tire & Rubber. He did not live in Woodstock. He was an absentee owner.” Milton sold his half-share to Henry L. in the early 1960s, staying on as manager until Ned took over in 1966.
Born in New Jersey, Ned Houst “moved about every two years” until his father became a Firestone vice president and settled the family in Akron, Ohio, where the company has its home office. “I finished high school in Akron, and then went to Williams College, graduating in 1961 with a degree in Economics,” Ned recalls. “I lived briefly in New York City, but the draft was breathing down my neck. So, I signed up for Naval Officer Candidate School and graduated in 1962, at the top of my class. I asked to be assigned to a West Coast destroyer, and almost immediately went to Japan.”
With his first wife Cathy, Ned “moved our household to Japan.” When his three-year stint of active duty ended in 1965, he says, they had “two backpacks and $2,000,” and six months to get to London to be transported back home. They spent the next five months touring Europe and Asia, including Nepal, Afghanistan and India. When he showed up at the naval attaché’s London office, “I had a deep tan, long beard and long hair… He looked at me like I was a Martian.”
Back in the States, Ned headed straight to Akron to see his mother, who was then dying of cancer. “My Dad and I were talking about my future. I had job offers from Firestone and Mobil Oil. But I told him, ‘I know you need someone to manage the business. I’ll try it for a year.’” That was the beginning of an attachment to the Woodstock community that never slacked thereafter. “I’m very proud of the progress of the business, from a second-rate operation to what is now a mainstay of the town.”
Ned married his second wife Shelby in 1990, and they became the co-owners of H. Houst & Son when his father died in 2006. Shelby’s daughter Jody Bryan came on board as an employee in her teens, and she and her husband John Despres are now majority shareholders in the business, along with Ned’s daughter Kate. If you visit the store today, you’ll find Jody and John running things, “and they’re doing an excellent job of it,” Ned says.
During his more than half a century at the helm of the hardware store, Ned became more than a supplier of stuff that Woodstockers needed to build, maintain and furnish their homes. He also donated both money and supplies to an endless list of worthy causes. “My wife and I and the store have been very active in supporting local endeavors,” he says.
Emergency services such as the volunteer fire department and rescue squad are high on their list of priorities, as well as Woodstock’s various food pantries: “The store has been very supportive of town volunteers. We regularly contribute to their fund drives.” In addition, employees who choose to be active volunteers enjoy the company’s full support when their services are required during business hours. “When they get called out on a fire, they don’t sacrifice any of their paycheck.”
One of H. Houst & Son’s longest-running relationships with local not-for-profits was in hosting the Woodstock Farm Market. “We welcomed the Farm Market into our parking lot for quite a few years, until they established their own site,” Ned says. The parking lot was a valuable resource that the business was able to make available to the Town in support of a variety of events, especially during the years when Ned was actively involved with the Chamber of Commerce. “We always tried to be cooperative with the Town in in setting up parking arrangements and to get a viable parking lot established.”
The annual arrival of Santa Claus – a much-loved long-running Woodstock tradition, with Santa’s conveyance being different each year – is one of those events, with the hardware store’s proximity to the Village Green often making it a staging point. “We’ve always been supportive of that occasion. We’ve loaned some equipment for it some years. Joe Holdridge [the actor often portraying Santa] took off from our roof a few times.”
So it was that, when Ned Houst was honored with the 2023 Alf Evers Volunteer of the Year Award at the 19th annual Volunteers’ Day on August 19, his reliable help in shepherding Santa’s arrival was one of the factors cited in the presentation speech by the Town supervisor: “Over the years, as Woodstockers have celebrated Christmas Eve on the Village Green, he has aided in the logistics required to ensure the success of Woodstock’s most cherished tradition. In addition to Christmas Eve, he and his establishment have long provided advertising and financial support for countless community events, including the music and creative efforts that are at the heart of the Woodstock art colony. In addition to also offering window and display space for such events, he has lent his support to local entrepreneurs, vendors and for essential activities such as the Woodstock Farm Festival.”
Noting that he didn’t have much time for “boots-on-the-ground volunteering” during his decades of running a thriving business, Ned seems almost bashful about being singled out for this honor. “I was very surprised at the Alf Evers Award, and very honored to be among the participants,” he says of the Volunteers’ Day event, which celebrates all who volunteer for the community on any level – including a number of Houst employees over the years. While many Woodstockers could tell of how a donated can of paint or stack of lumber helped them build sets to put on a play, or how a place to hang a sign in the store window helped them draw an audience, Ned downplays all the small ways in which his establishment has consistently helped: “The financial impact has been relatively minor, but it has always been an ongoing thing for the store, when we get those requests.”
The Volunteers’ Day organizers, Woodstock Appreciates Its Volunteers, apparently don’t see Houst’s willingness to help as a small thing, by any means. “Over the years, countless individuals, non-profits and the Town itself have relied on his generosity and support for whatever was needed,” the introductory remarks continued. “Often working in the background without need for recognition, that support has been given without hesitation. More importantly, his efforts over the years have demonstrated what the word ‘community’ truly means and have reminded each of us that we are a part of a collective experience doing what we can to move Woodstock forward.”
We all do what we can for our communities, when we can, with the resources we have available. In Ned Houst’s case, he didn’t have much time to spare, so he gave funds and materials and parking space. And Woodstock became a better place for his involvement.
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