Porters Building Centers (Kearney)

Porters Building Centers is a third-generation family-owned lumberyard and Ace Hardware store on Highway 92 in Kearney, founded in 1952 as Kearney Lumber Company and still headquartered in the town where it started.

Description

Porters Building Centers operates a combined lumberyard and Ace Hardware store at 700 East Highway 92 in Kearney, Missouri, a Clay County town at the northern edge of the Kansas City metro.¹ The Kearney store is the company’s original location and its headquarters; sister stores operate in Smithville, Missouri and in Laurie, Missouri at the Lake of the Ozarks, and a contractor yard, Porters Wholesale, operates in Mosby.²³

The Kearney and Laurie stores carry a full lumber and building-materials line; all locations stock hardware, plumbing, electrical, lawn and garden, grilling supplies, tools, and Hallmark gifts and cards.³ The company describes itself as a rail-car mill-direct lumber buyer and claims the largest lumber inventory in its area, including hard-to-find lengths that competitors must special-order.¹ The Kearney store also runs an equipment rental counter.¹

The store’s Ace affiliation is a cooperative membership, not a corporate franchise: Ace Hardware is a retailer-owned cooperative whose stores are independently owned. Porters retains its own name in the primary signage and branding, running as “Porters Building Centers” and “Porters Ace Hardware.”²³

Ownership and history

The business was founded by Mack Porter, who grew up in Paradise, Missouri and graduated from Smithville High School. After serving in the U.S. Army in the Second World War, he taught high school mathematics and science in Highland, Kansas for three years, coaching all three sports the school offered, before deciding to work for himself.²

Mack and his wife Mary Helen pooled his teaching savings and her earnings from the Highland hardware store, moved to Kearney, and rented an abandoned yard that had previously housed hogs, chickens and mules. The company gives its founding date as 7 June 1952, under the name Kearney Lumber Company; the store’s own account notes that the opening day coincided with the birth of the Porters’ first son, Craig.²⁴

The couple opened a second store in Braymer in September 1956; by August 1961 the business had grown to four stores. Kearney Lumber Company was renamed Porters Building Centers in 1976, when the Kearney store moved into a newly built building at its present location.²

Kent Porter is the current owner and operator of Porters Building Centers, listed as President-CEO. Mack Porter remains involved as President Emeritus and, per the company account, continued to contribute as the firm’s lumber buyer. Craig Porter owns and operates the Porters Wholesale contractor yard in Mosby. Kent’s children, Alex Porter (VP-COO) and Natalie Porter Thompson (VP-Marketing & Merchandising), also work in the business, making it a three-generation family operation.² Mary Helen Gilmore Porter is memorialised on the company’s about page.² The Kearney store manager is Nick Stewart.¹

“ — the date of the ownership transfer from Mack to Kent Porter, and the current status of the Braymer store and the other early locations, which are no longer listed.

Links

• Website: https://portersbuildingcenters.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/porterskearney/

Services

Confirmed first-party offering at the Kearney store:¹³

• Lumber and building materials, including rail-car mill-direct buying and long or uncommon lengths
• Free project quotes for lumber and materials
• Hardware, plumbing and electrical supplies
• Lawn and garden, grilling supplies, power and hand tools
• Paint and sundries
• Equipment rental
• Hallmark gifts and greeting cards
• Ace Hardware online ordering with store fulfilment

Sources

Footnotes

1. “Porters Kearney” (location page: address, hours, store manager, lumber inventory, rental), Porters Building Centers (company website), retrieved 2026-08-26. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. “Learn More About Us,” Porters Building Centers (company website), retrieved 2026-08-26. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. “Porters Building Centers — Hardware, Lumber & Paint” (home page), Porters Building Centers, retrieved 2026-08-26. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. “Porters Building Centers Ace Hardware,” Ace Hardware store directory, store 03651, retrieved 2026-08-26 (store address and founding narrative). URL ↩