In April of 1948, Mr. and Mrs. Ivan S. Kropf, owners and operators of a saw mill and lumber yard near Molalla, Oregon, purchased the lumber yard in Hesston. The business was previously owned by Vogt Lumber Company of Moundridge, Kansas. Mr. Kropf hired Robert Diller to manage the business on the east side of Main Street in Hesston, which is the current location of Central Kansas Credit Union. Lumber, millwork, hardware, paint, cement and coal were the principal items sold. Kropf Lumber began at that time with two employees.

The Hesston community and Kropf Lumber continued to expand. By 1963, Kropf Lumber needed more space and land was purchased on Lancaster Ave. The first building to be built was a shop building, followed by warehouse buildings and the new store. In the late 1980’s Kropf Lumber was running out of showroom area and began thinking about how the store could be expanded.

March 13, 1990 will always be remembered by the Hesston community as well as by Kropf Lumber employees. Shortly after the 5:30 p.m. closing time, the business was struck by a powerful tornado that destroyed the store and adjacent warehouses. As the tornado roared through town it left a trail of twisted debris. As the employees dug into the massive task of cleaning up, they also needed to supply building materials for others who had suffered loss. As a result of the tornado a new store and showroom were constructed on the east side of the street opposite the old location. The new store was almost triple the size of the old store. The new facility opened in January of 1992. Robert Diller retired after 43 years as manager of Kropf Lumber and Kerry Krehbiel, who had been employed at Kropf Lumber since 1964 became President. Under Kerry’s leadership Kropf Lumber continued to grow, serving central Kansas with lumber and building materials.

In the early morning hours of January 26, 2005 neighbors awoke to find fire in the north end of a warehouse building connected to the Kropf Lumber store. Thanks to the great work of Hesston Fire and EMS crews with assistance from surrounding towns the fire was contained to the north half of the warehouse. Again Kropf Lumber was able to rebuild and continue without any major disruption to normal business.

At present Kropf Lumber has 39 fulltime employees and continues to serve central Kansas with lumber and building materials.

Kropf Lumber is owned by Ken Kropf. Ken is the grandson of Ivan Kropf.