Posted: 8/2/05
New lumber business has long history
By Jane Palen
Managing Editor
Norman Snodgrass spent a lot of time in the old Standard Lumber building when he was a child. His grandfather, Jim Lawson, was manager of that business, and later owned Lincoln Street Lumber in the same location. He would pay his grandson $1.50 to clean the basement. Today, Snodgrass is sitting in the same chair his grandfather once sat in and is head of a new business, Affordable Lumber.
Snodgrass has owned S & S Construction for about five years, and the business was starting to make some headway. When he heard that his great uncle, Ben Krueger, was going to retire from Nelson Construction Company, he knew that the building at 224 W. Lincoln would become available.
ěSomething told me to start a lumber yard,î said Snodgrass.
The building was used for storage for a number of years, but in its earliest years was H.P. Nelson Lumber Company. H.P. stood for Hans Peter, but people in town nicknamed him Hard Pine. The railroad tracks ran directly north of the building. To the south, where the Roesler house now stands, lumber was stockpiled.
H.P. Nelsonís son Connie was the next to enter the business, and then Connieís son Peter took over. Nelson Lumber was sold to Standard Lumber Company, while Nelson Construction continued under Peter and later David Nelson. Ben Krueger was partner in that business until it closed earlier this year.
As Snodgrass was to discover, starting an independent lumber business is not simple. Distributors tend to pay little attention to the small guys, and he became frustrated when it seemed that his efforts were not paying off. He considered abandoning the idea, but slowly things came together.
ěIt took a lot of talking,î said Snodgrass. ěThey cater to the chain stores.î
It took a couple of months, but he now has distributors on board and is forging ahead with plans to remodel the sales area and create displays for some of the lines he plans to carry, including outdoor wood stoves, gas fireplaces, and other building supply materials. Other plans include a HVLP (high volume low pressure) sprayer system for wood pre-finishing. He has a boom truck service and a number of sub-contractors which he can hire for different jobs. He stressed that he caters to both the professional builder and handyman. He can handle entire projects from start to finish, or be available as needed.
Snodgrass said he believed the time was right for starting his business.
ěThere are a lot of homes going up. Thereís no reason two lumber yards canít survive here,î he commented. He said his grandfather would probably take a different view.
ěHe would probably think Iím out of my mind for doing this,î he said.
Snodgrass got his start in carpentry by remodeling apartments. Bit by bit, he became acquainted with different aspects of the building trade. His grandfather also taught him a lot about the business. He said he prides himself on the quality of his work, and has a lot of repeat business.
Snodgrass has plans to honor the heritage of the building by having a mural depicting the lumber yard in its earlier days (pictured here).
A grand opening/block party is being planned for the spring.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com