EMLENTON, Pa. (EYT) — Northwestern Pennsylvania is known all over the world for the high-quality hardwood lumber produced here, and recently one of the lumber businesses in our area was featured on “This Old House.”
(Pictured above are Jessica, Jake, Dennis, and Larry Hickman, who work together to continue the family business and growing the sawmill started by Harry Hickman, Larry’s dad in the 1930’s.)
Hickman Lumber, the parent company of Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring, was featured in a January 20 segment of the PBS show.
According to its website, Hickman Lumber Company, which has survived two mill fires, is a fourth-generation business that began during the depression era when Harry Hickman started logging with a crosscut saw and a team of horses.
After acquiring an engine from a coal company, he built a mill from which he produced mostly mine timbers and blocking for the steel industry. In 1945, a permanent mill was built in southern Venango County between Emlenton and Clintonville.
In 1964, Harry’s son, Larry, joined the company. Larry had graduated from the National Hardwood Lumber Association Inspection School in Memphis, Tennesse, in 1958 and after working for a lumber broker for six years came back to work with his father.
Over the years more equipment and property was acquired, and in 1981, the company was producing 12-15 cubic meters per day.
It was at this time that the third generation of the Hickman family got involved when Larry’s son, Dennis, began full-time employment as an inspector. Another circle mill to cut blocking and two Irving Moore dry kilns were added in 1984. In that same year, a fire totally destroyed the main mill. The next day the company went to two shifts while the new mill was being built. The following years saw more kilns added and timberland acquired.
In 1989, another fire destroyed the mill, and again it was rebuilt better than before.
Episode 11 of Season 39 of “This Old House,” featuring Hickman Lumber, can be viewed at www.pbs.org/show/old-house/episodes/.
