History

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the opportunities available in the country's Western frontier captured the attention of many Americans. In the 1850s, five young members of the Laird Norton family joined in the westward migration, setting out from their Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania homes with energy, optimism and ambition. Like their Scotch-Irish ancestors, the men exhibited self-effacing, yet plain attitudes, humility, thrift, and a desire to lead a sober and religious life. The Lairds and Nortons also brought their sense of honesty, strong work ethic and community leadership ability to their new Western home. All these qualities formed the roots of a lumber firm that began in Winona, Minnesota and became known as Laird Norton Company. Over the years, these roots branched out and today include the regional subsidiaries and divisions of Lanoga Corporation.

The story of Laird Norton Company history begins in April of 1855, when the brothers William, Matthew and John Laird became the proud owners of roughly one thousand dollars of lumber products from a firm in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. After rafting their new purchase down the Chippewa and Mississippi Rivers to Winona, the men used the lumber as the first inventory of Laird & Brothers, Minnesota's newest retail lumberyard. In October 1856, Matthew and James Norton, cousins to the Lairds, joined the fold and the firm changed its name to Laird, Norton & Company. For the next two decades the new company expanded to include a sawmill with 400 employees, numerous lumberyards along the Winona & St. Peter Railroad, and thousands of acres of timber holdings throughout the pinelands of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In the decades following the Civil War, Americans continued to move westward. Forest product industries soon felt the changes brought about by the expansion of settlement, agriculture and the railroads. Laird, Norton & Company responded to the new circumstances by setting up sawmills in Idaho and Washington. The company's influence spread with its business interests as the firm continued its tradition of giving back to the communities in which it operated. By 1883, Laird, Norton & Company had outgrown its partnership model and incorporated in the state of Minnesota under the name Laird, Norton Company with Matthew Norton, James Norton and William Laird serving as the incorporators.

United Building Centers (UBC), one of the five operating groups within today's Lanoga Corporation, dates back to the early days of Laird, Norton Company. Following common practices, Laird, Norton established separate companies for different business purposes. Management of retail yards operated by two Laird, Norton subsidiaries fell to the Hayes-Lucas Lumber Company, established in 1889, and the Botsford Lumber Company, established in 1870. Half a century later, in 1962, Hayes-Lucas Lumber Company merged into Botsford Lumber Company, resulting in the emergence of United Building Centers.

UBC continued to grow after the merger. Between 1962 and the present, additional yards were established throughout Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Spenard Builders Supply (SBS) a firm that originated in yet another American frontier, became the second Lanoga operating group. George A. Lagerquist and A.J. Johnson opened the doors of Spenard Builders Supply in the Alaska territory in 1950, nine years before it became the nation's 49th state. Since that time the company has met the challenges of the rugged environment, the devastation of earthquakes, and volatility of the Alaskan economy with fortitude and vision while remaining the pre-eminent supplier of building materials to Alaskans throughout the state.

The acquisition of Spenard Builders Supply by LN Corporation in 1978 yielded the company known as Lanoga Corporation. The name of the new corporation recognized the two entities from which it arose -- LAird, NOrton and GAlco Distributing (a.k.a. Spenard Builders Supply).

Lumbermens, the third operating group of Lanoga, began with Sol Simpson's arrival in the Pacific Northwest in 1893. Soon after arriving in the new state of Washington, Simpson established the Lumbermen's Mercantile Company. Eighty seven years after this humble beginning, Lumbermen's Building Centers (as it became known) was acquired by Lanoga Corporation. In 2003, Lumbermen's Building Centers changed its name to Lumbermens. Since 1982, Lumbermens expansion has continued, as its roots have spread from Washington into Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, and California.

Home Lumber Company (HLC), Lanoga's fourth operating group, grew from a small Littleton, Colorado operation that had begun in February 1954 under the name Home Lumber and Supply Company. After its purchase by Don and Mike Guetz in 1982, the company expanded and developed into a major supplier to professional builders in the Denver market. On March 29, 1999, Home Lumber Company (as it became known) joined the Lanoga Corporation family.

Dixieline Lumber Company (DLC), became Lanoga's fifth operating entity on August 18, 2003. Dixieline was founded in San Diego in 1913 by W.S. Cowling Sr., and was owned by the well-known Cowling family of San Diego until 2003. William S. Cowling II continues to preside as President and CEO. Dixieline serves customers throughout Southern California , Arizona, and Nevada and maintains a dock facility in Oregon. Dixieline also operates a construction project escrow funding service through its own Builders Fund Control.

On August 15, 2005, Parker Lumber became the sixth operating division within the Lanoga family.  Founded in 1930 by B. Wyde, the lumber company began by demolishing wooden oil derricks and selling the used timbers.  In the 1960's, Richard Parker, B. Wyde's son-in-law, transitioned the company into being a retailer of builder-oriented building materials.  Parker Lumber is now being run by Richard Parker's son, Scott Parker, and has since expanded into several important markets in Texas.  Parker Lumber, along with its history, family of employees, and CEO, Scott Parker, bring together the Lanoga family in an exciting expansion into the Texas market.

In January 2006, F.E. Wheaton Lumber in Illinois became the seventh operating division of Lanoga.  F.E. Wheaton & Co. got its start in 1892, when Franklin Emory (F.E.) Wheaton, his brother Henry Wheaton, and A.J. Braken purchased a coal company in their hometown of Wheaton, IL.  Braken and Henry eventually left the business and Franklin’s son, Ralph, joined his father in 1904 and incorporated as F.E. Wheaton & Co. in 1925.  Over the years, Ralph’s sons, Ralph, Jr. and Donald, and grandson, Ralph, III continued to successfully guide the firm.  In 1982, Jeff Brown, Ralph’s great-grandson, joined the company and became president upon Ralph’s death in 1994.  Jeff has continued to successfully grow and guide the business just as his predecessors did, including managing the company’s expansion to Yorkville, IL in 1996.

The ideas and values of the Lairds and Nortons provided the roots from which the Lanoga Corporation grew. The operations and philosophy of today's Lanoga family reflect these values, as the company follows the path to business success laid out over a century ago.