Rural King

Rural King began on June 5, 1960, when Kermit Speer and Keith Beaird -- friends and neighboring farmers in Macomb, Illinois -- opened their first store in Mattoon, Illinois. Beaird had just sold his stake in a local Oldsmobile-Cadillac dealership and was looking for a new venture; he'd noticed the success of a nearby Farm King store and pitched Speer on trying something similar. The two sold their own farms to raise the money to lease a building, choosing a 7,200-square-foot former farm-implement building in Mattoon as the first Rural King Supply location, betting that their own agricultural backgrounds would help them read what farm customers actually needed. The company expanded quickly by regional standards: a second store opened in Paris, Illinois in 1962, in a converted eight-room packing house, followed by a warehouse in 1966 and repeated additions to the original Mattoon building through 1970. The chain grew from that single implement-building store into a Midwest and now nationwide retailer selling farm and livestock supplies, tools, clothing, and general merchandise, reaching 135 stores by 2024 and, in recent years, expanding into states like Georgia. In 2024 the company's board named its first CEO from outside the founding families in the company's 63-year history.