A C.D. Hartnett truck on a Texas highway at sunrise

About Us

More than a distributor.
A Texas institution.

Our Story

An Irish railroad hand. A Texas town. 145 years on Main Street.

The C.D. Hartnett Company grew up with Weatherford. It started with a young man who traded the rail lines for a grocery counter and built a business that still answers to the same address.

  1. 1863

    From Limerick to the rail lines

    Cornelius D. Hartnett was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1851. His family emigrated to the United States in 1863, and he went to work beside his father, contracting to build railroads.

  2. 1878

    Forty dollars a month

    He left railroad work for a clerk’s job at a grocery in Whitesborough, Texas, at $40 a month. By the end of his first year, he was running the store.

  3. 1880

    Weatherford

    The railroad reached Weatherford in June 1880. That same year the stock moved to Weatherford and opened as Starr-Hartnett Company, wholesale and retail grocers, at 302 North Main Street.

    Hand-colored 1885 fire insurance map of Weatherford showing the Texas and Pacific Railroad tracks, the passenger depot and the Crystal Palace flour mill
    The Texas & Pacific tracks and passenger depot, Weatherford.Sanborn Map Co., 1885. University of Texas Libraries.
  4. 1890

    The Hartnett name

    A.F. Starr retired, and the firm became C.D. Hartnett & Company.

    Hand-colored 1885 fire insurance map of North Main Street on the Weatherford courthouse square, with the new courthouse marked as being built
    North Main on the courthouse square, with its wholesale and retail grocery. The new courthouse is marked “being built.”Sanborn Map Co., 1885. University of Texas Libraries.
  5. 1896

    Banker and grocer

    From 1894 to 1904, C.D. also served as president of the First National Bank. In 1896 he built his family a Queen Anne home on Palo Pinto Street, high on a hill west of downtown.

  6. 1904

    Incorporated in Texas

    C.D. incorporated The C.D. Hartnett Company in Texas. It soon gave up retail and became a wholesale distributor, the business it has been ever since.

    Eleven men in suits and hats stand in front of a Santa Fe boxcar with a banner reading This solid carload 3 Meal Tea for The C.D. Hartnett Co.
    A solid carload of 3 Meal Tea on a Santa Fe boxcar, bound for The C.D. Hartnett Co.
  7. 1917

    Roaring Ranger

    When oil came in at Ranger, tens of thousands of people poured into the area. Hartnett expanded in Weatherford and opened a warehouse and office in Ranger to supply the boom. The Ranger house ran until 1962.

    A C.D. Hartnett display stacked with coffee tins and flour sacks under a banner reading Distributed by The C.D. Hartnett Co., Magnolia Coffees, Wholesale Grocers, Light Crust Flour
    Magnolia Coffees and Light Crust Flour, distributed by The C.D. Hartnett Co.
  8. 1953

    Family hands

    Through most of the twentieth century, C.D.’s son, grandson and great-grandson led the company in turn.

    A dense crowd of men, women and children gathered at a Hartnett grocery display
    A full house at a Hartnett display.
  9. 1974

    Columbia Street

    The Grocery Distribution Center opened at 1002 East Columbia Street in Weatherford.

  10. 1984

    Fort Worth

    Ground broke on a Foodservice Distribution Center in Fort Worth, built to serve restaurants, schools, hotels, health care and institutions.

  11. Today

    Still on Main Street

    The headquarters still sits at 302 North Main Street, the address where it started in 1880.

A store associate checks stock on a snack aisle

What We Believe

“The customer is the reason, and the only reason, that The C.D. Hartnett Company is in business.”

Since 1880, the name C.D. Hartnett has meant one thing in Texas: reliable distribution backed by real relationships. We started as a regional grocery operation and grew into one of the state's most trusted full-line distributors by staying close to the businesses we serve. Every order moves on our own trucks, driven by people who know the territory.

Work with us.

Stores and kitchens buy from us. Vendors sell through us. Start with the side that fits.

For Customers For Vendors