Company History

In 1960 J.C. (Jack) Barnhill opened Barnhill Bolt Company in Albuquerque in a small block warehouse on the property of a large steel manufacturer. He quickly started selling steel, brass, silicon, bronze, stainless steel, nylon, and plastic fasteners in sizes small enough to require tweezers to sizes large enough to hold together mine shafts and bridges. Jack took great delight in knowing that fasteners he sold ended up in space, and even on the moon.

Within four years the company had grown from one employee to six and moved to its current, much larger location. Both of Jack's children and their spouses joined the company during those first four years: Jim and his wife Bobby; Mary and her husband Dick. In 1968, Jack's wife, Eleanor retired from teaching and joined as well. Jim passed away soon after he retired in 2007, but his wife Bobby still serves as a consultant. Jim and Bobby's 45 years in the fastener business were honored with election to the Fastener Hall of Fame in Columbus, Ohio. Mary and Dick are still active, but look forward to retirement as the next generation takes over.

All seven of Jim's and Mary's children worked in the business during their college years. Now three of those children and one spouse are the successful leaders of Barnhill:

• Dee Silver, who came straight from college with his accounting degree, is the general manager and supervises all the buying;
• Jo Ella Silver transitioned from her career as a juvenile probation/parole officer to handle Human Resources;
• Stephanie Silver, CPA, Dee's wife, is in charge of Accounting.

Though he died in 1978, Jack left his children and his grandchildren standards for excelling in business:

• superior products
• superior service
• integrity in all we do