W.E. Estes and Son is the oldest business in Limestone County. Here is a history:

    • 1900 — Horton Lewis & W.E. Estes open for business. While primarily a dry goods store they provided whatever a farmer needed to live through the year. Farmers would charge their purchases and settle their bill once a year when their crops came in.

    • 1903 — Lewis and Estes sign an exclusive dealership contract with V-C Fertilizer. North Alabama farm customers become world leaders in the use of this product.

    • Dick Hatchett purchases Lewis’ interest. The business becomes Estes & Hatchett.

    • 1921 — With the economy in recession W.E. (Pete) Estes Jr. leaves Georgia Institute of Technology to help out in the business. Dick Hatchett transfers his interest in the business to Pete; business name becomes W.E. Estes & Son.

    • 1933 — Pete obtains an Allis-Chalmers dealership franchise. The first rubber-tired tractors in the state of Alabama are sold by W.E. Estes & Son.

    • 1934 — W.E. Estes & Son secures a franchise for GMC pick-up trucks and becomes the largest diesel-repair shop between Nashville and Birmingham. During this time, a line of Delaval milking equipment, Burks pumps and refrigeration equipment were added to meet the needs of local dairy farmers.

    • In the late 1940s — A tractor-mounted appliance to control boll weevils, called a Bug Catcher, is added to the line of products sold. Seed-cleaning machines are built and sold as well. Also offered is a product called the Early Gleaner. The first metal grain bins and first electrically pumped irrigation systems in the state were sold and installed by the company.

    • 1950s — Window air conditioners are offered.

    • 1959 — W.E. “Bill” Estes III joins the business after graduating from Vanderbilt University with a degree in electrical engineering. The business shifts to being primarily a plumbing, electrical and HVAC contractor.

    • 1962 — Richard “Buzz” Estes joins the business following graduation from Vanderbilt University.

    • 1963 — A water-to-air heat -pump unit is built and installed that is still in service today.

    • 1968 — Bill Estes leaves the company to accept an engineering position in Decatur.

    • 1970 — Pete Estes dies and the business becomes a family partnership.

    • 1970 — The first electrical ground-fault protection in the United States is installed at Athens Hospital by W.E. Estes & Son.

    • 1972 — The company incorporates as W.E. Estes & Son Inc., with Buzz Estes as president and his wife Doris as secretary/treasurer.

    • 1976 — A solar water -heating system is built and installed.

    • 1987 — Three 5-ton, open loop, water-to-air heat pumps are installed in an antebellum reproduction home.

    • 1993 — The business decides to emphasize service work, corrective contracting, failure analysis and troubleshooting.

    • 2000 — W.E. Estes & Son celebrates 100th year of serving businesses and people of North Alabama and southern Tennessee.

— Buzz Estes