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Details

Before becoming the go-to commercial cleaning company in the Fort Campbell area, Harry Lynwood McLeod served in the Army for 2 1/2 years during World War II. After he was discharged, he received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Mississippi. in 1949, masters degree in chemistry from University of Alabama in 1951, and his Ph.D in chemistry in 1956. Harry is a member of Sigma Xi, Alpha Chi Sigma and the American Chemical Society.

On Jan. 3, 1959, Harry began teaching organic chemistry at Austin Pea State University and in 1964, Harry was named chairman of the chemistry department.

In 1981, Harry McLeod and wife Ruby Jean (Cook) McLeod took their leap into the commercial cleaning supply business when they became managers of Associated Chemical Company, located at the corner of 6th and Franklin street in Clarksville, TN. Associated Chemical Company manufactured janitorial and car care products.

In 1982, Harry took early retirement from APSU where he had taught chemistry for 24 years and embarked on his second career with Associated Chemical Company. In 1983, Harry and Ruby Jean purchased Associated Chemical Company from Frank Carney and formed a corporation with their 3 children, Linda McLeod Knox, Larry McLeod, and William McLeod as stockholders. This move prompted Ruby Jean to retire as director of the Playschool Program at the 1st Presbyterian Church.

In 1986, Larry McLeod moved from Knoxville, where he was manager of a cattle farm, after graduating from the University of TN having earned a degree in agriculture and animal husbandry, to become manager of Associated Chemical. Larry’s wife Cathy is a CPA and has her offices on Wilma Rudolph Blvd.?In 1986, Harry and Ruby Jean formed a new commercial cleaning company. “McLeod’s Industrial Cleaners” and moved manufacturing to rented space at 625 Frosty Morn Dr. Harry developed new products that were used to soften and strip blue jeans in laundries. The stripper removed the size that was used in manufacturing the cloth, with starch being the greater part of the size. After the size was removed, the jeans were tumbled with pumice stone to give the worn look. The worn look was also obtained by using a cellulose enzyme. Some jeans were bleached to give a lighter look. There was a problem with the indigo dye making the pockets blue. After much research and testing, Harry developed a product (that was being patented) to solve this problem and leave the pockets white.

In 1987, Harry received a patent on a product named “Attack”. This product is unique in the way that it attacks the dirt on automobiles without much scrubbing. It puts on mono-molecular shield on the vehicle that not only protects the car but puts a shield on it as well. It can also be used to clean any hard surface such as washing down vinyl and aluminum sidings on houses. Harry and family are proud to have the city buses using this product. One of Harry’s outstanding products is “Zing” an odor neutralizer that kills cigarette and obnoxious odors when sprayed into the air. Another product, “Magiclean” was made to compete with Fantastic and 409. This product really removes grease from surfaces, stains from carpets and dirty spots from clothes before laundering. Harry has developed over 100 different products for cleaning everything from greasy floors and hard surfaces, carpets, glass cleaners, and bathroom cleaners to car care products and odor neutralizers in many different fragrances.

In 1998, Harry and Larry McLeod formed a partnership and purchased a building at the corner of South Spring Street and Washington Street. This building was originally the Clarksville Gas Company and later Texaco owned by Mr. Gordon Wolfe. The business was then moved from 6th and Franklin Steet to the new address given as 48 West Washington Street.

After the move, Larry expanded the inventory to well paper products and Spartan Chemical products, which is a full line of industrial janitorial products. McLeods also carries equipment such as mops, mop buckets, brooms, dust pans, buffing machines, pads for stripping and buffing floors, wax and wax strippers, vacuum cleaning, wet/dry vacs, carpet extractors shampoo, carpet scrubbing machines, and cleaners. These products are environmentally safe and made available to all customers as long as they understand the products are commercial cleaning supplies of industrial grade and must be used accordingly.

In 1998, Harry built and addition to the existing building on Washington Street and moved manufacturing to this location in September.

On January 1, 1999, the two companies became one and changed the to McLeod’s Inc. The employees are Larry McLeod, President; Ruby Jean McLeod, Secretary and Treasurer; Penny Rushing, Office Manager; Tonya Nelson, Office Assistant/ Sales/ Marketing; David Laymon, Laboratory Assistant and Warehouse; and Lee Carabajal and Robb Banks, Delivery Drivers.

Although the January 22, 1999, tornado damaged the roof and inside the original building, McLeod’s Inc. didn’t miss one day of business as they were able to operate out of the manufacturing building while the original building was being repaired.

We are members of The Clarksville Chamber of Commerce, Civitan, and ISSA (Industrial Sanitary and Safety Association). In 1998, Larry McLeod was named outstanding Business Man of the year by the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce. Harry enjoyed experimenting on new products and in fact there are not many weeks that someone would come in and bring some problem for him to solve or to seek his advice. This he loved and thrived on.

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opening_hours

• Monday09:00 AM-09:00 AM
• Tuesday09:00 AM-09:00 AM
• Wednesday09:00 AM-09:00 AM
• Thursday09:00 AM-09:00 AM
• Friday09:00 AM-09:00 AM
• Saturday09:00 AM-09:00 AM
• Sunday09:00 AM-09:00 AM