About Us

Walter's Propane started in August of 1945 by Walter T. Strycharz. The business opened as Walter's Home Appliance. Walter opened the business as the area's first appliance dealer. Walter sold everthing from washing machines to baby cribs. Walter was one of the largest dealers in propane at the time. There was no natural gas lines started yet, so if a person wanted gas, propane was the answer. Propane was used on main streets and citylike areas. However, when the natural gas line started forming, Walter lost a lot of local "city" propane sales. There were always new rural customers, so the sales always seemed to maintain a comfortable level.

One advantage Walter had was that he could speak Polish. At this time, there were a lot of Polish people in the area that could not speak English. Walter sold a lot of merchandise back then and right up to recent years. That was always one of Walters talents. The propane business always seemed to have a steady customer base and Walter always made the deliveries and served the area well.

In 1954, the name was Walter's Appliance and Furniture, Inc. This time period, Walter sold a lot of furniture and bedding. Once again, Walter was the areas largest dealer for this type of merchandise. Walter was the area biggest television dealer. At this time, television was just starting to happen, so there were not many, if any dealers around. Walter sold a lot of AM radios as well. Richard Sr. worked hard after school to help Walter's. He delivered appliances and the propane gas. He remembers delivering a lot of appliances in the area. In 1969, Walter's of Hadley, Inc. was the final incorparated name and is still used today. We use our "Doing Business As" name, Walter's Propane" as our offical name.

During the 1970s and 1980s, bigger chain stores came into the area and made it difficult for a small independant dealers to sell appliances and television. Walter sold on appliances till about 1997. The propane business always stayed with us. Richard Jr, in 1986, when he received his driver's licence, started making the deliveries. He maintained the customer base we had. In 1998, Richard Jr. took over completely and today we serve a lot more than Richard Jr. did when he first received his driver licence. We are still growing and as we grow will never forget how we started. We understand that without the customers we have, we would not be who we are today. We treat every customer as if they were our first and look foward to serve many new customers.