Firehouse Bay 2, Window #3

Olympia Veneer was established in 1921. On the site where Springer Mill was previously located, the company was a cooperative that manufactured plywood. Ed Westman, a native of Sweden, had come to Tacoma from Sweden in 1909.  He was associated in 1920 with Defiance Lumber Company in Tacoma. J. G. Lucas of that company had interested Westman in the idea of organizing a cooperative plywood plant in Olympia. Westman traveled from Everett to Portland trying to interest friends and associates in the idea.  Westman was prominent in local Swedish lodges and enlisted members’ support. It was actually the second plant built exclusively for plywood production. The other was Elliot Bay Mill Co. at Seattle, established in 1920. Many of the first employees of Olympia Veneer went on to work in other plywood mills throughout the Northwest.

By January of 1921, they had enough stockholders to establish Olympia Veneer Co. It was formed with 200 co-owners all of whom were entitled to a job with the company. Each owner invested an initial $500 but before the business opened, they added an additional $500. If they could not afford the second $500, it was deducted from their paychecks until everyone had paid an equal amount. Evidently only about 120 of the 200 initial shares were sold.

The site for the plant was along the waterfront near State and Jefferson in Olympia which was served by rail service. The construction started in February, 1921. Lucas was president, Westman secretary, and Axel Erickson was Treasurer. The officers were initially chosen by the stockholders.  Of the initial stockholders, 100 were new to Olympia. Some of the original shareholders were Leonard Nystrom, Emil and Vern Nyman, Arnold Koutonen, Clarence Keating, and J.E. Mattson. The majority of the workers were Swede-speaking Finns. The firm was revolutionary in that all of the employees from President to the lowliest worker received the same salary.

To facilitate raising of the additional capital needed after the first few months of construction, the original stock certificates for $500 were exchanged for $1,000 certificates and stockholders were required to either contribute an additional $500 or work off the investment. About 100 of the stockholders worked at the mill.  Stockholders lived frugally, even sharing a boarding house. However, after the first year some of the shareholders sold their shares. By 1922, the cooperative had started hiring additional workers. Further funding for construction came from credit from local hardware man Earl Bean, and loans from individuals. They finally secured a $25,000 loan from Security Bank and trust Company. The plant began operation in August, 1921.

No orders were forthcoming for plywood when the business started so they manufactured slats for orange crates for the first four months, after which orders were received. Initially Pacific Mutual Door Company of Tacoma marketed their output which quickly reached 20,000 feet a day. Pacific Mutual was a cooperative sales company.

The mill was equipped with “a lathe, a veneer clipper, two dryers, equipment for mixing and spreading the glue, a veneer press, clamps for the panels and a second-hand sander.” The logs were steamed and then peeled. The firm began production of plywood which had either one or two good sides which dictated its use. The dual finish product was used in doors, while the one-sided boards were used for interior items such as drawers and cabinets. Plywood became a popular material for auto-parts such as running boards and floor boards.

The need for an experienced plant manager became evident and Bill Bailey was hired. He pioneered the use of drying “heartwood” from “sapwood” separately and markedly increased production. By 1923 Olympia Veneer became profitable. Shareholders increased their shares to as many as four shares each.  By 1927 they increased production of fir plywood to 21 square feet. In 1927, Olympia Veneer purchased a second plant in Aberdeen in 1927 which was experiencing financial difficulties. It was managed by Vern Nyman, an original Olympia Veneer stockholder. Despite the financial hard times of the late 1920s, Olympia Veneer was able to purchase the plant with Pacific Mutual Door Company and outright from Pacific Mutual Door in 1931. The Aberdeen mill closed for a time but re-opened in 1933. The firm weathered the difficult financial times well and enlarged the Olympia Plant in 1936.  An innovation, invented by Peter Skoog in 1933-34 allowed plugs to be inserted into the plywood. Olympia Veneer built a new plant at Willamina, Oregon in 1939 on a site donated by the town. The Aberdeen mill burned in 1940 and was replaced by a mill in Eugene, Oregon.

During World War II plywood mills produced material for PT boats, bulkheads and floor of ships, deckhouses, hulls and troop compartments. They built prefabricated houses for shipyards and factories.  It was used by the Seabees in the South Pacific and for prefabricated boats for the crossing of the Rhine. The operation proved to be profitable. On August 26, 1946 it was sold to St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber which also produced plywood. Olympia Veneer retained ownership of plants in Eugene and Willamina, Oregon under the name Associated Plywood Mills and sold those operations and others the firm had developed to United States Plywood Corporation in 1955. Many of the original stockholders of Olympia Veneer, 69 of whom remained with the company from its beginnings, went on to found or serve in important positions of several veneer companies throughout the Northwest.

St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber merged with St. Regis in 1957. A large expansion of the 40,000 square foot addition was added to the plant in 1948 which was built by Industrial Engineers and Contractors Incorporated of Tacoma and filling of tidelands was done concurrently with the expansion. A second large addition was constructed in 1956 to bring the mill up to a total of 250,000 square feet. It is believed these buildings were built by St. Paul and Tacoma between 1947 and the 1960s of the plywood itself and were used as storage and also for peeling and drying machinery. By 1967 the mills had closed and in 1971 the property was purchased by the Port of Olympia. The lumber mills and plywood manufacturers thrived on the Port fill area in the first part of the 20th century. The wood-processing industries were major employers in the Olympia economy. Ed Westman became president of the firm in 1922 and resigned in 1924 to organize Washington Veneer Co., which was organized on the Port fill on June 1, 1924. Washington Veneer located at Capitol Lumber Co. which was rebuilt in 1926-1927.  Washington Veneer produced its first plywood in 1925. Washington Veneer added a millwork factory in 1928, Plant No.2 for plywood in 129. The plywood factory opened in 1930 and produced all-spruce plywood to panel the interior of the luxury liner Bremen. Aircraft Plywood Corporation of Seattle purchased a controlling interest in Washington Veneer in 1929 and the factory had the contract to produce all of the plywood for Fisher Body Company which built car bodies for General Motors.

Despite the rush of orders when the mills in Seattle and Olympia were operating around the clock, the depression caused the Washington Veneer to close for three and a half years and was re-opened in August 1932 when it was purchased by United States Plywood Corporation. Washington Veneer began production of wallboard grade plywood in 1928 and began producing concrete form plywood in 1933. Washington Veneer produced plywood for buildings at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition, (Hall of Science). It had re-opened in May, 1933. It was known from 1933 to July 1937 as Capitol Plywood Corporation and then reverted back to the name Washington Veneer. Olympia Veneer and Washington Veneer pioneered the use of soybean glue for plywood developed by I. F. Laucks of Seattle.

In 1939 Washington Veneer’s controlling interest stock was sold from United States Plywood Corporation to Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. Weyerhaeuser sold its interest in Washington Veneer Co. in 1947 to Georgia Pacific. In 1945 there were 725 workers employed at Washington Veneer.  In 1950 there were 1,028 persons directly employed in the plywood industry. None of the buildings associated with the plywood industry in Olympia remain. (Stevenson, Shanna, Senior Planner, Olympia Heritage Commission and Thurston Regional Planning Council. “Port Peninsula Sites/Structures Report,” Port of Olympia Contract, 2003.)

For more information, see:
https://www.apawood.org/data/Sites/1/documents/monographs/7-olympia-veneer-co.pdf
https://www.apawood.org/data/Sites/1/documents/monographs/11-washington-veneer-co.pdf
Historic newsreel footage of Veneer Mills from Zabel Theaters. Courtesy of Richard Talcott and the Olympia Historical Society & Bigelow House Museum.