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.

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The collection consists of subject files, letterpress books and incoming correspondence, minute books, unpublished annual reports, financial statements, tax returns, log scale reports, daybooks, cash books, journals, ledgers, and miscellaneous accounting records.

The first three series (subject files, letterpress books, and accounting records) pertain primarily to the Laird, Norton Company itself. Much of this material focuses on logging and lumbering in the Chippewa, St. Croix, and Kettle River valleys in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Most of these records were received from the company in 1949.

The Associated Companies materials consist of records of lumber, land, paper, railroad, slough, and other firms in which Laird, Norton owned an interest and whose boards usually included family members. Many of these firms were located in Louisiana and in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington State. This material was received from the Laird, Norton corporate archives in Seattle, Washington in 1995-1997.

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These records are divided into the following four sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Laird, Norton Co. Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 6592; 13,292; 15,275; 15,486; 15,498; 15,784

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, March 1998 and November 2003

Catalog ID number: 990017348350104294

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The three series of Laird, Norton records: subject files, letterpress books, and accounting records include information on land acquisition and taxation; logging and lumbering in the Chippewa, Kettle, Mississippi, and Saint Croix river basins, in Louisiana, and in the Pacific Northwest; lumber camps; sawmills; management and sale of cutover lands; transportation of logs to the sawmill at Winona; the manufacture of lumber; and the marketing of lumber, bricks, lime, cement, paper, glass, and other building materials at retail yards in Minnesota and North and South Dakota. There is material relating to lumber trade associations; legislation relating to logs and lumber; grading and inspection of lumber; forests and forestry; forest fires and fire prevention; labor in the woods and in the mills; timber trespass; scaling; relations with the railroads; insurance; purchase of town and county orders; cooperation with the Wisconsin state and county boards of immigration and relations with various land and immigration companies; pine land investigations; and dams and stream improvement. There is information about other lumbermen and lumber companies; the Leech Lake and Red Lake Indian reservations; river steamers; and the design and construction of the Winona Free Public Library building (1895-1899).

Correspondents include Laird, Norton officials and employees; officials of affiliated, related, and subsidiary companies in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Louisiana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and elsewhere; other lumbermen and lumber companies; boom companies; log towing companies; the Minnesota surveyor general of logs and lumber; railroads; vendors and suppliers; the Stillwater [Minn.] Board of Trade; the Lumbermen's Finance Corporation; trade associations; and Philadelphia architect Edgar V. Seeler.

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Records of more than 75 associated, subsidiary, and related logging, lumber, land, railroad, and other firms having extensive dealings with Laird, Norton and its subsidiaries. A volume entitled "Corporation Record, 1903-1944" gives summary data on most of the companies listed below, on others not listed below, and on the Laird, Norton Company itself. Many of these companies were at different times based or active in states other than those in which they were incorporated, moved their headquarters office from state to state, or were reincorporated in various states over the years.