Ashland Implement will be closing its doors as 2017 comes to an end. 

In its place will be Wellington Implement Co., Inc., which has agreed to lease Ashland Implement’s Cleveland Avenue location, its home for 51 years. Ashland Implement sells Case IH, Kubota and Cub Cadet brands of farm, construction and lawn equipment. 

Dan McNaull, owner of Ashland Implement, along with family members Tom McNaull and Steve and John Crone, said the move was a work in progress for about two years. He said Wellington company was “the right fit” to take over the property. 

“We have known these people (Wellington) the entire time that we have been in business. They perform to the same high standard that we do to provide for our own customers,” he said. “We’re excited to still have our own local service here.” 

The majority of the Ashland Implement employees will remain employed by Wellington Implement, McNaull said. 

Ashland Implement has been a family affair. McNaull’s father, John McNaull, started working for Ashland Truck and Implement around 1939 and bought the business in 1966 with his wife, Bonita McNaull, and sister and brother-in-law Verna and Eldon Crone. 

Wellington Implement was founded in 1929 and is known as one of the oldest family-owned farm dealerships in Ohio. 

According to a history listed on Wellington Implement’s web site, Willard Young founded it in 1929 after he sold his Ashland farm when he was diagnosed with heart problems. Eva Young took over the business after Young died in 1936 when he was hit by a train. 

Tom Stannard, now general manager, is a fourth generation employee, the great grandson of Eva Young. 

Come Jan. 2, phone calls directed to Ashland Implement will be answered by Wellington Implement, according to a news release. Wellington Implement’s Ashland location will be fully open on May 1, 2018, according to the release. 

Wellington Implement sells and repairs Case IH farm equipment, Yanmar compact tractors, Cub Cadet and Scag lawn tractors, Meyer Snow Plows, Echo hand tools and a variety of other farm and home items, according to the release. 

“We will sell and service compact and outdoor power equipment, light construction equipment and be a parts source for the area’s agriculture industry.” 

Between the transition, McNaull said Ashland Implement would still service parts and do smaller work for its customers. Leaving the customers after 51 years will be the hardest part of leaving the work, he said. 

“That will be the part we miss,” said McNaull, who it was previously announced would become the new general manager of the Firelands Electric Cooperative in New London after the first of the year.