Laird, Norton Co.

Laird, Norton Co. had its beginnings in 1855 with the establishment at Winona, Minnesota of Laird Brothers (or "Laird & Brothers"), a lumber retailing partnership, by William Harris Laird and his brothers Matthew J. and John Laird. In 1856 the Lairds were joined by two cousins, James L. and Matthew G. Norton, and the name of the partnership was changed to Laird, Norton & Co. The firm built a sawmill at Winona in 1857, and became a lumber manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer. A planing mill and a sash-and-door factory were added in 1868. The firm was incorporated in 1883 as Laird, Norton Co.

Laird, Norton drew its timber from the Wisconsin and Minnesota pineries, particularly from the Chippewa and St. Croix river basins. Much of the lumber was marketed directly through line yards (lumber yards built along railroad lines). The company's first two line yards were established in southern Minnesota in 1864.

The Winona sawmill was closed in 1905, as Laird, Norton's lumbering activities became increasingly concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. The Winona office then became a center for investment and for retail lumber yards in the Midwest.

The company's headquarters moved to Seattle, Washington in the 1950s. The Winona office continued as headquarters of the Laird, Norton line yard companies, which merged in 1961 into Winona-based United Building Centers.

Laird, Norton was associated early and long with the Weyerhaeuser lumber interests, and was involved with them in a number of lumbering operations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Pacific Northwest, including the Mississippi River Logging Company, the Pine Tree Lumber Company, and the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company.

From the guide to the Corporate records., 1855-1958., (Minnesota Historical Society)