In 1959, twenty years after the last trolley car ran on the York City Trolley Co’s far-flung network, John and Eunice Taylor incorporated their fledging business, Capital Screw and Nut Co. The couple hailed from the hardware town of New Britain, CT and they knew York County’s large manufacturing base needed a regional source of metal fasteners. They also wanted to honor York’s role as the nation’s first capital by naming their business, “Capital.”

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York was our national capital? From September 1777 to the end of June 1778, York acted as the first capital of our infant nation. The British had captured Philadelphia, so the members of the Continental Congress fled to York. While here, they signed the Articles of Confederation, thwarted a plot to replace George Washington as the General of the Continental Army and used the phrase, “The United States of America,” for the first time. Philip Livingston, a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died suddenly while the Congress met in York and is buried here. Also buried here is James Smith, another member of Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

 

But zoom to 1959 when the Taylors couldn’t know they would eventually select the home of the York City Trolley Co as the permanent location of their new business. Capital had outgrown its space several times, so in 1980, Capital moved to the red brick building on the corner of Pennsylvania and Hartley in the city of York. The Taylors saw the potential in the building’s soaring ceiling with its massive rafters, its office tower, and its solid brick structure. They were also aware of the building’s history, and they preserved what was left: the large entrances and exits for the trolleys, the trolley tracks, the trolley pits, and the office tower.

What a perfectly wonderful space to shelve millions of metal fasteners!

 

Over the past 65 years, Capital has continued to serve the region with the metal fasteners needed to build, make, and secure everything from airplanes, autos, and bridges to sculptures, tools, and tractors. Today, everyone who comes to our counter is invited to look down at the trolley tracks running through the main warehouse, up at the rafters, and across at the racks and racks of screws, nuts, and more.

 

As our customers often tell us, “If you can’t find it a Capital, you don’t need it.”