Copeland Lumber

Copeland Lumber, Multnomah, 1985.

Copeland Lumber, Multnomah, 1985.

 

Joseph W. Copeland was born at Sumner, Iowa, on August 31, 1886. His father, Joseph, taught him the lumber business in yards acquired or opened in Cresco, Perry, Toledo and Gardiner, Iowa.

Copeland graduated from high school at Cresco, Iowa, and then matriculated to the University of Minnesota, fully intending to become a lawyer, but that never happened – his father got the urge to go West.

The Copeland family moved to Hood River, Oregon, to enter the fruit growing business in 1908. It was at Hood River that young Joe, then 22, worked in the Hood River Bank and Trust Company. He also became an officer. Lee A. Copeland, Joe’s older brother, got the family back in the lumber business with purchase of retail yards at Meridian, Kuna, Star and McKermit, Idaho. (McKermit no longer exists)

After a few years in the fruit business, father Joe exercised a $10,000 mortgage he had on a lumberyard in the Lents district of Portland. Stock was purchased until 1912, and the elder Copeland was in the retail lumber business on the West Coast for the first time.

In 1920 Copeland Lumber Yards had only five outlets and 20 employees. Only two additional yards had been added by 1927. In the meantime, however, father Joseph, 72, died on March 7, 1924. And death struck the hierarchy of the Copeland organization again in 1926 when brother Lee Albert Copeland died at the age of 43.

Joseph William Copeland, then  40, became president and chief executive officer in 1926. He guided the growth and destiny of the company for 47 years, until stepping aside to become board chairman a few days before his 87th birthday in 1973.

In those 47 years, Joe Copeland increased his number of yards until they totaled 84 on February 15, 1974. Perhaps the most distinguishing mark of Copeland Lumber Yards, Inc., was the use of bright, Halloween orange on the buildings and a big black cat insignia. This all came about when the company, in its early expansion days, purchased the Fenton Lumber Company of Fenton, Idaho. The orange color and black cat were trademarks of the Fenton firm.

In 1973, when Joe Copeland was elevated to board chairman, he was succeeded by his only child, Mrs. William Alexander Whitsell

In 2000, Helen Joe decided to sell the company and retire.  At that time Copeland Lumber had 68 retail outlets in Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and Arizona; 1000 employees, and annual sales of $200 million.  There was no single buyer for all Copeland’s stores, so the company was broken apart and groups of stores sold to different companies.

The Copeland Lumber name lives on in Newport, Florence, and Waldport, Oregon.   In 1999 a group of its employees got together and purchased the Newport and Waldport yards from Copeland Lumber Yards Inc., and have since opened another store in Florence.

 

Copeland Lumber Logo

Copeland Lumber Logo

 

Copeland Lumber Ad, Sunday Oregonian, May 31, 1925.

Copeland Lumber Ad, Sunday Oregonian, May 31, 1925.

 

Next Week: The Story of the Copeland Black Logo

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19 Responses

  1. timlyman says:

    Hello,

    Greatly enjoyed your Copeland Lumber story.

    http://multnomahhistorical.com/copeland-lumber

    Story includes “and McKermit, Idaho. (McKermit no longer exists).”

    I lived for 26-plus years in Pullman, Wash., while working for Washington State University. Being there on the Washington-Idaho border gave me an Idaho affinity.

    Curious about where McKermit was located, I did Internet searches, including looking at lists of Idaho ghost towns. Could not find McKermit.

    Contacted a friend, a retired Idaho State Historian. He said, “You’ve stumped me… I assume it might have been … in the Meridian area, but I’ve never heard of it … I did a search in the Idaho place names book and nothing popped up.”

    So, we’re both curious. Where was McKermit, Idaho?

    Thank you,

    Tim Marsh

    McMinnville, Ore.

    • timlyman says:

      Tim –

      I’m stumped.

      I’ve looked through all my Idaho ghost town books, and online archives of old newspapers, and have found nothing.

      The only name remotely like McKermit is McDermitt, or Fort McDermitt, on the Oregon/Nevada border. I’m ruling that out because even 100 years ago, Fort McDermitt was the middle of nowhere, and could not possibly have supported a lumberyard – plus it’s 175 miles from the three Idaho yards, and the fact that McKermit is mentioned twice makes me think it’s not a typo.

      Anyone have any ideas?

  2. Pat says:

    Can anyone fill me in re the Multnomah Lbr Co which is listed at Eats 49th and Fraser St in the Vancouver, BC Canada telephone directory in the 1930s?
    Was the USA company looking to expand northward at that point? maybe had an agent living there? or possibly a lumber yard? or?
    Thanks!

    • timlyman says:

      No Idea. Where did you find the phone directory? As far as I Know, there never was a lumber yard in Multnomah with “Multnomah” in the name.

  3. Martha Howard says:

    My dad worked for Copeland Lumber in Oregon, and California for 30 years. Great information. Thanks

    • timlyman says:

      I’d be really interested in talking to your dad or you about anything you remember about Copeland.

      • Martha Howard says:

        I remember working in the store with my dad. He taught me how to keep his books. In high school, I would work after school keep8ng the sales journals done. I remember a man named Bob DeLa Rue, inventory at the end of the year, mixing paint: Boysen, Pratt and Lambert later on, unpacking hardware, stocking shelves, calculating board feet. It was a great way to grow up. My dad passed away in 1997, so I can’t really give anything from his perspective. I remember my parents going to Portland each year for convention. My dad would bring home a bucket filled with silver dollars quite often for selling the most pa8nt and paint products.

  4. Terry Kimzey says:

    Before our move up the street to the 32nd Ave. house, my parents and I lived in the house right next door to what was Copeland Lumber at the time. It’s the house that’s now painted green. I literally just walked across the street to school. My grandmother lived upstairs. One thing I remember was the house had a big lot, that (at least to me) seemed to stretch all the way to the next street in back. My dad knew one of the guys at Copeland. One day, I remember my dad coming in and saying to my mom we need to talk. It seems that Copeland wanted to expand, and wondered if my folks would sell some of the property in the back to them. They agreed, and Copeland wound up building a new facility and expanding into what had been our back property. It more than doubled the size of the place. Of course, as a young kid, all that construction was just a dream come true, for me anyway! And that extra money was what made it able for my folks to purchase the next house (larger) up on 32nd. I could still walk to school that way.

    • Tammy (Croft) Trapp says:

      Hi Terry,
      When did your parents sell this house? I too lived in the house right next door to Copeland Lumber. It was a great house. Maybe my parents purchased it from yours. I married a Trapp from Trapp Bakery family.

  5. Paul Gomez says:

    There was a Copeland Lumber in my hometown, Lone Pine, CA, in the ‘40’s, ‘50’s. It was quite a pre-Home Depot kind of business, ie, lumber, hardware, appliances, etc. For a small town nestled in the Owens Valley is was a sad day when it closed its doors.

  6. Martha Howard says:

    My dad, Jack Hastings, was the manager of Copeland Lumber, 1959-1982, when he retired.

    • Paul Gomez says:

      Nice to know your acquaintance. Do you know if a B.W. Byrne was an employee of the Lumber Yard? Also, year when was the business destroyed by fire? Thank you.

  7. Danette Bakewell says:

    My Dad Worked for Copeland in Olympia, Washington. He worked for Jack McGlofland. Not sure of the spelling. Does anyone remember it’s location. I thought it was there on Pacific Ave where the freeway entrances for North and South bound I-5 Are now. I would love a.picture if anyone has one.

  8. Kate D. says:

    We are buying the house that Joseph Copeland built for his family in SE Portland in 1912. Joseph W. continued to live there after his father’s death. The building is a solid two-story Craftsman style, with paneling and stunning built-in cabinetry in living & dining rooms. Additional period touches include pocket doors, a large walk-in pantry, and “back stairs” to the 2nd floor. Copeland may have just been getting started with his lumber business, but he clearly prioritized having a comfortable and stylish home.

    • Victoria Baumann says:

      I’d love to connect, we live in a Copeland home in Hillsboro and it sounds very similar to the southeast home!

  9. LLR says:

    I worked for Copeland Lumber at the Park Rose yard 73-75 then the main office 89-2000. The history you’ve given is pretty accurate. Although left out were some challenges faced from being a female running a company in what at that time was considered a man’s world.

  10. Jim Kahn says:

    Thanks to Copeland Lumber, my dad’s store went out of business back in the early 50’s!!! The building, which is now the Starbucks location, was once called Bill’s Home & Garden Shop/Store…and later became Mummy’s Hardware for a while…until Multnomah got into it’s trendy “Village” nonsense. I can remember next door…Steinbach’s Appliance…John and Marion Steinbach…Verduman’s Shell station, across from the school…Mrs. Verduman used to drive like a bat outta hell…thought she owned Multnomah…John’s Meat Market on the main strip, soon to relocate down and around on Capitol, across from Trapps Bakery…the location turned into Crawford’s Women Shop. I remember the Men’s shop that was next door. Went to school with the Trapp twins…Gretchen and Susan. My brother went to Multnomah School for the first couple of years of his gradeschool days, then over to St. Clare’s and Capitol Hill. Many fond memories of Multnomah before it because the “village”…many people who lived there hated that tagline…I think they felt their little community was being invaded by aliens! So…anyone remember Bill’s Home & Garden Shop/Store? I do remember tho…when he went outta business, all that stuff came home…settling in the basement and the garage…I grew up with all the tools a kid could possibly dream of…I was never want for any kind of tool, garden items, sprinklers, shovels, electrical items, tools, nuts & bolts, screws, wire, you name it…boxes and boxes of unused stuff to play with as a kid. What fun!

  11. Lindell Griffith Johnson says:

    Jim Kahn, I echo your distain for “Multnomah Village!” I also grew up going to school at Multnomah grade school. I lived on 54th and Garden Home Rd, attending Lincoln before Wilson was built. Margaret Gabrial was my Sunday school teacher (Gabrial Park), John’s Market owned by Feuz family were friends, as were many other merchants in Multnomah. I worked as a Dental Assistant for Dr. Swanson during high school and college (L&C). I LOVED being part of MULTNOMAH!!!

  12. Russ says:

    In the 70’s I went to Arcata High school, Arcata CA. On L st (i think) there was a Copeland Lumber outlet. The Arcata HS colors are black on orange, mascot is “tigers”. QUESTION: Was Copeland Co. an early supporter of the high school, located just blocks from the lumberyard? Were the colors chosen somehow related to the Orange/Black and black cat motif of the lumber co?

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