About Us

It was a success story in the grand tradition.  In 1886, three young men in Hastings, Nebraska entered into an agreement for the manufacture of horse collars and harnesses.  On the strength of faith, vision & prudence, J.H. Haney, William A. McKey, and W.M. Dutton signed the agreement, dated January 27, 1886, forming J.H. Haney & Co.  At that time, Grover Cleveland was President, the Statue of Liberty was being dedicated in New York, and America was being introduced to the game of golf.  The streets of Hastings were still unpaved, but the town was in a tremendous boom cycle.  Five major railroads intersected in Hastings and the town was filled with enterprising people, like the three founders of our company.

The company originally began making harnesses and saddles and was recognized as the largest harness and saddlery manufacturing plant in the part of the country west of the Missouri River.  In 1919, construction on a 6-floor building for the factory and store of Will M. Dutton, now the sole owner of the J.H. Haney & Company enterprises, began at the southeast corner of 2nd Street & St. Joseph Avenue.  The structure was to be called the Victory Building and had a floor space of 65,000 square feet, selling wholesale of Hardware, Automotive Supplies, Shop Equipment, and Harness & Leather Goods.  Watching the construction of the building was a young man named H.A. Lainson, who was seriously contemplating organizing a wholesale hardware company in Hastings.  He contacted W.M. Dutton and the two began to work together on a wholesale warehouse.  On August 3, 1920, W.M. Dutton & Cons Co. was incorporated and began providing general hardware, electrical and plumbing supplies, refrigerators and radios, as well as harness and automotive supplies.  On February 2, 1939, company stockholders voted to amend the name of the company to the Dutton-Lainson Company and over the next decade, grew its Wholesale Division tremendously with new and innovative products.

By the 1950’s, the sixth floor of the Victory Building was used as a showroom for such items as kitchen cabinets, ranges and other major appliances available to contractors from the Wholesale Division, and in the 1970’s, the showroom was moved to the second floor of the Victory Building.  It wasn’t until 1981 that “SHOWCASE®,” a product display and sales building, was opened at the corner of 2nd Street and Kansas Ave.  This Retail Division of the Dutton-Lainson Company was created in 1980 to show off many of the products sold by the wholesale division.  This new showroom was a place for the individual consumer looking for items like light fixtures, cabinets, sinks, tubs, or toilets, to browse in-person and make their selections.

SHOWCASE® provided a large selection of lighting and plumbing fixture possibilities during the 1980’s and 1990’s, and the countertop manufacturing operation offered a wide variety of materials and designs.  When a custom cabinet line was added to the SHOWCASE® retail offerings in 1997, sales increased by 46% in one year.  The most exciting news for SHOWCASE®, however, was the company management’s decision to transform the old Burlington Northern Railroad Depot into a new venue for SHOWCASE® and new Amtrak offices. The U.S. Department of the Interior, the Nebraska Department of Roads, the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Adams County Historical Society, the City of Hastings, and two architectural firms worked with Dutton-Lainson Company to plan this transformation. 

The Burlington Northern Railroad Depot restoration was completed October 11, 2001 after an extensive 5-year long process.   Built in 1902, the Depot had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Some of the original interior ornamentation, including 8-foot opaline marble wainscoting, cut stone wall projections and a high-beamed ceiling had been painted over or covered with plaster walls and lowered ceilings, which all were restored to their original condition.  The original mahogany ceilings are visible and many of the original doors and windows were also retained.  The original 600-pound round iron Burlington Northern grille is in place on the east window of the loft and the balcony on the west side of the loft overlooks the cabinet showroom.  Three U.S. presidents have passed through the doors of the train station:  Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Harry Truman.  Other dignitaries, including Buffalo Bill Cody, legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, and actor/singer Paul Robeson also first set foot in Hastings at the Burlington Depot.  The depot also provided the departure point for thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen during two world wars, the Korean War and the Vietnam conflict.

The SHOWCASE® showroom currently occupies the majority of the building at 501 West First Street, with the Amtrak station located on the far west end.  Inside the Showroom, you’ll find many beautiful displays of kitchen and bath cabinetry, countertops, cabinet hardware, bathtubs, showers, plumbing fixtures, chandeliers, pendants, ceiling fans, table lamps, floor lamps and home décor accessories.   Finding a wide variety of quality products in a “one-stop-shop” helps customers pull decisions together during the selection process.  In addition, our experienced, professional design staff offers cabinetry design, knowledgeable plumbing sales and whole-house lighting options.  In 2015, lighted display windows on the west side of the Victory Building on St. Joseph Avenue were created to showcase these products available at SHOWCASE®, as well as the history of the company. 

By now, over 138 years have passed since the company’s founding, and because of the company’s strong, diversified foundation and innovative, motivated people, Dutton-Lainson Company is now in a stronger position than at any time in its history and a pillar of the Hastings, Nebraska community.