Rose & Walker was founded in 1966 by Dave Rose & John J Walker. Hanging and finishing dry-wall was the only business they were involved with. The business was started in the basement of Dave’s home. Dave and Johnny hired a few of their friends to help hang and finish. By 1970 they had outgrown the basement and bought a house at 2527 S Rogers. Rose & Walker was now a company with about ten employees. Both of the wives helped out with the books and phones. As the business grew, so did the loyalty between the employees and Dave & Johnny.
In 1972 Rose & Walker doubled the space of its building and bought a vacant lot behind the shop to park cars and trailers. In the same year the building business was so good , insulation contractors could not keep ahead of the drywall hangers. Rose & Walker Insulation was born. Dave and Johnny were offered a chance to buy an Insulation business from a local builder who was just too over worked. Johnny wanted to finish drywall so that left Dave to be the Insulation Installer, as well as sell the jobs. They had a 1959 Ford 1 1/2 ton truck with a old Insulation blower in the back. Dave hired some of his friends to help him install side wall batts, crawl spaces and blow the attics. Many times in that first few months Dave wondered if they had made the right decision. They had. Within three years Rose & Walker insulation became Bloomington’s largest insulation contractor.
By 1979 Rose & Walker was Incorporated, and once again outgrew the 2527 location. They now had two full time estimators for drywall and insulation, with a full time secretary and about twenty five employees. Rose & Walker got a chance to buy a ten thousand sq. ft. building around the comer at 300 Country Club Dr. With 10,000′ they had to fill the building with something. All the insulation that in the past had been stored off site could now be brought into the new warehouse. At that time the other drywall supply yards in Bloomington were busy supplying drywall to other contractors. Rose & Walker Inc. decided to start stocking drywall for their own jobs. Not long after the other supply yards went out of business.
In 1982, we expanded again. Rose & Walker purchased the building and grounds located next door at 320 Country Club. It was bought so as to construct more buildings behind the main warehouse to house drywall and to supply all builders needs in the Monroe County and surrounding areas. The building was used as a carpet store among other business.
By 1986 Rose & Walker Inc. had grown to have about forty employees, a showroom with all the related tools for the drywall and insulation industry, two boom trucks, two insulation blowers as well as a tractor and trailer rig to haul their own materials.
1988 brought yet another year of expansion. Brenda Conner, a long time sales rep for Gold Bond Building products, came to Rose & Walker with the vision of adding a vinyl siding supply yard to the R&W building product line. Rose & Walker Siding Specialties was born. In 1992, John J Walker’s health begin to fail, so he decided to sell his part of the business to Dave. In 1995, Rose & Walker purchased 298 Country Club, the old “On-Line building”.
In January 2015, Dave Rose decided to retire and Mike and Susie White have taken over the business. While the owners are new, the same great group of guys will continue to work hard and bring you the same quality service that has been Rose & Walkers reputation for 40 years.