History

Lawton Brothers was founded in 1946 when brothers Sonny and Bill Lawton came home from World War II and started a business in their grandmother's garage. Sonny was going to school at Rollins College and with his brother they did odd jobs in downtown Orlando for the old Angebilt Hotel's housekeeper. One thing led to another until they seized upon an opportunity to learn the business by taking jobs with the T.F. Washburn Co. Once satisfied they knew enough about the business, they set out on their own working out of the garage at their grandmother's farm on Bumby Ave. After a short while they rented office and warehouse space at 2305 N. Orange Ave, in Orlando. (pictured on this page) Back then, they provided cleaning services to commercial customers, and sold products to the places they served. Eventually, the distribution business took over.

Today a second generation of Lawton brothers, Larry and David, run the full-service janitorial supply distributorship with four locations throughout Central Florida.