| During the late 1800s, the corporate giant Knapp, Stout and Company logged vast areas of pine forests in Northern Wisconsin. Their singular interest in harvesting pine trees left many great tracts of hardwood unscathed. However, when they ceased operations in 1900, the fine stands of hardwood did not go unnoticed for long.
The plant in Birchwood, Wisconsin dates back to 1903. It was then when M.W. Perry and the Haney Brothers of Algoma, Wisconsin bought a seven-acre tract of land on the southeast shore of Big Birch Lake. Early the next spring, they sent a crew to build a large boarding house. The mill building was started shortly thereafter.
The mill was a two-story structure, housing the veneer mill on the ground floor and the saw mill on the upper floor. Operations began in early 1905. At that time, the logs were all washed before being pulled up into the saw mill. When the lake froze over, the saw mill was closed and the men went to the woods to log all winter. A small crew was left behind to operate the veneer mill. The winter of 1929 was the last of the logging days for this mill. After that time, other firms cut the logs, and they were shipped in, first by rail and then by truck.
The mill operated under various names and owners until 1971, when B.G. "Bud" Kennen, the present owner, took the reigns as Birchwood Lumber and Veneer evolved into a primary producer of hardwood plywood "door-skins."
As a point of interest, the only structures remaining from the original mill are the two tall smokestacks and the old boarding house, which has been remodeled and now serves as the company office.
Birchwood Lumber & Veneer grew from a small producer for the residential market to the largest producer of commercial and architectural door-skins in the United States. Over the years, Birchwood Lumber & Veneer diversified its product line to include many thicknesses of plywood for the residential cabinet industry.
Birchwood Lumber & Veneer expanded to its Thorp, Wisconsin facility in 2004, occupying the former Mapleton Furniture building. The Company chose this site for the tremendous quality of work ethic and wood working knowledge of this region's residents. The factory was laid out completely based on Lean Manufacturing principles and proudly boasts its state of the art efficiency.
Then in 2007, inspired by a "cutting-edge" in-company motivational and incentive-based program for all of our employees, BirchwoodBest, Manufacturers and Importers of Fine Hardwood Plywood, was unveiled.
Now BirchwoodBest leads the way in North America for architectural door-skins and in supplying hardwood plywood to kitchen and bath cabinet manufacturers.
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