When it comes to Fresno's oldest business, most people think of Fresno Ag Hardware. The store started in 1876 as Fresno Agricultural Works, home of the famous Fresno scraper. But another local firm has roots that date back ever further. Today on KVPR's Central Valley Roots, the story of the firm of Kutner & Goldstein, which is still around today as Penny Newman Grain Company.
Adolph Kutner and Samuel Goldstein started their general merchandise store in Fresno in May of 1874. Located at the corner of Mariposa and H streets, their operation sold dry goods, hardware and the like to Fresno's earliest pioneers. Eventually they expanded with locations in Hanford and Centerville. Over the years, the company developed a strong clientele in the gain, feed and seed business.
In 1930 the company was sold to longtime employees Maurice Penny and David Newman, who renamed the venerable firm the Penny Newman Grain Company. One of their employees was an 18-year old clerk named Frank Moradian, a childhood friend of William Saroyan. Moradian worked his way up through Penny Newman and purchased the company in 1943 the ran the company for the next 40 years.
Together with his wife Roxie, the Moradians were some of Fresno’s highest-profile philanthropists, helping to establish Valley Children’s Hospital and the Fresno Arts Center, today known as the Fresno Art Museum.
Today Penny Newman company is “a leading merchant in the domestic and international market for grain and feed by-products.” Despite its name change, it has a strong claim for the title of Fresno’s oldest business.
