The History of Dunn Lumber

The company founder, Albert L. Dunn, was born in 1869 in the small northern Wisconsin town of Rhinelander. He was the last of 8 children to be born to Edward and Lucy Palmer Dunn and it is believed that the father died a few months before Albert's birth. The seeds of Albert Dunn's later success must have arisen in childhood, no doubt a time of difficulty for a family of eight children being raised by a widow. When Albert was about 13 he ran away from home and ended up being an apprentice in the local hardware store. Years later he became a partner in the store, but by this time he had married Mary Stevens, the daughter of a local sawmill owner.

In 1907 Albert formed Dunn Lumber in Rhinelander. He bought lumber from sawmills and resold the material into the wholesale and retail trade, known as brokering. In 1910 he decided to relocate to Seattle, then a booming town where abundant timber from Pacific Northwest forests was being sawn by numerous sawmills. In later years Albert specialized in representing cedar shingle mills and he sold their output across the country.

Albert and Mary had five children by the time of their move to Seattle, three boys and two girls. Mary Dunn, who had been a schoolteacher before her marriage, made sure all of her children were good students and in fact all five graduated from the University of Washington. The three boys all received degrees in forestry and during their college years worked in the then nearby forests as part of logging crews.

The two eldest boys, Charles and Ed, felt that their future lay in the retail lumber business, and in preparation for entering the business themselves, took jobs with a lumber retailer in California. In 1927 they returned to Seattle and their father provided them with the capital to open a retail business. Their first location was in an old barn just to the east of what is now University Village Shopping Center. In 1931 they purchased the Holmes Lumber and Fuel building and land on the north end of Lake Union. Today this location is not only the largest of the Dunn yards, but also contains the corporate offices.

What today is known as The Great Depression descended upon Seattle not long after the relocation of the business to the Lake Union site. As the economy contracted and business volume fell, Charles and Ed realized they needed to either change the way they were doing business or they would soon be forced to close the doors. For many years prior to this building material businesses extended credit to building contractors and as these contractors went broke they often pulled their suppliers down with them.

The Dunn brothers decided to take the radical approach of selling for cash only and they closed all credit accounts. In addition, they each cut their own monthly salaries by half, to just $50 per month. In the first six months after adopting these new procedures, the business lost money, but in the second six months it turned the corner and for the remainder of the depression remained a profitable company. A few years later the slogan "It Pays to Pay Cash" was advertised widely and used until the arrival of credit cards.

On the night of July 29th, 1938, a spectacular fire destroyed all of the lumber sheds, inventory, equipment and offices. Fortunately, Charles and Ed had excellent insurance coverage and were able to rebuild immediately. They hired crews of carpenters to work two shifts a day and in just twelve working days they had a new 18,000 square foot building. This new building proved to be an excellent facility for sales and distribution of lumber and building materials. With much modification and additions it continues to operate as the largest volume location.

As the country emerged from the depression and World War II the Seattle economy exploded with growth, fueled to a great part by The Boeing Company. Charles and Ed began expanding the business by purchasing and building additional locations. The growing affluence of homeowners brought many "Do-it-yourselfers" into the lumber yards and Dunn Lumber became known as a source for getting good advice and quality materials at a fair price. As the remodeling and home improvement market grew the company increasingly focused its efforts on providing materials and service to that segment of the market, as opposed to the new construction business.

The 1990's saw the emergence of Home Depot, Lowes, and other national "Big Box" stores that would change the face of the building materials market forever. Many independent stores and regional chains fell by the wayside as the national chains rolled into their areas. Dunn Lumber's response has been to focus even more effort on offering exceptional materials and service. Dedicated Dunn staff work hard to establish and maintain one-to-one relationships with customers, offering expert advice and suggestions to help homeowners and professional contractors finish their projects on time and under budget. The company has also put considerable emphasis on providing materials for the restoration of older homes.

With the addition of a Web site for selling products and answering questions, Dunn Lumber has found yet another way to provide better service to clients and remain competitive in the marketplace. In 2001 the company launched a formal training program for its employees to make them the most knowledgeable in the industry.

Today the business remains family owned and operated. Charles and Ed Dunn are both gone, but the sons and grandson of Ed carry on the entrepreneurial sprit Albert Dunn began almost 100 years ago.