CENTENNIAL Flashback
The 1980s
T
o mark this year’s 100th anniversary of BPD’s sister publication The Merchant Magazine, we are looking back each month, decade by decade, at the advertisers that have long supported us and are still growing strong to this day. This month we check in on the 1980s. • States Industries, Eugene, Or., originated in 1966 as a manufacturer of walls panels—showcased in their September 1981 ad— before eventually concentrating on industrial hardwood plywood. • Siskiyou Forest Products was started by Fred Duchi in 1974 as a remanufacturer/wholesale distributor, as shown in the July 1982 Merchant. The company now produces finish lumber as well as Reserve brand engineered siding and trim, at its 35-acre manufacturing plant in Anderson, Ca.
• Canfor began a s P a c i f i c Ve n e e r, Vancouver, B.C., in 1938, adding milling operations through the next decade and in 1947 taking on the new name Canadian Forest Products Ltd. Aggressive growth followed, including selling into the U.S. through a network of wholesalers (at right, November 1984). Canfor began establishing its now-formidable foothold in the Southeast U.S. in 2006 with its purchase of New South. • Velux’s founder, Danish inventor Villum Kann Rasmussen, came up with the idea that would transform dark attics into livable spaces full of daylight and fresh air. In 1942, he patented the first roof window, called VELUX—VE short for ventilation and LUX Latin for light. Within a few short decades, VELUX had opened roofs across the world, including domestically through VELUXAmerica, which appeared in The Merchant in May of 1985.
• Snavely Forest Products, Pittsburgh, Pa., was founded in 1902 and grew to five distribution locations by the time it was acquired in 2018 by Weekes Forest Products. Snavely first promoted its western distribution centers in The Merchant in December 1982. • Atrium Windows & Doors was formed in 1948 and from its facilities in Dallas, Tx., and Welcome, N.C., grew into one of North America’s largest producers of vinyl doors and windows. After first appearing in The Merchant in April 1987, Atrium merged with PlyGem in 2018, after both companies were acquired simultaneously by private equity firm CD&R.
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n Building Products Digest n July 2022
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