Mohawk Lumber

[9936Sussex]

Okay, I had this flash of a memory of a lumber yard named Mohawk Lumber. I'm not sure why it came to me---but it seems as if it was near my house in Detroit [[Plymouth/Greenfield area). I lived there in the 1950's-60's, and I have a hazy memory of going there with my dad. Was there a Mohawk Lumber? or did I just imagine it?

[Sludgedaddy]

Sussex, several lumber yards existed in Detroit proper around that time period you mention. On the East side of Detroit there was Currier Lumber Yard, General Hardwood and Braver. Most of the lumber yards provided the materials that fueled the White Flight building boom in Suburbia into the 1970's.

Not familiar with Mohawk, but my father and three uncles worked for Currier Lumber. I worked two summers at Currier to earn monies to further my education at Wayne State.

Both Currier and General Hardwood's yards were not fenced in, a losing proposition if such a condition were to exist in this day and age. As lads, many a Saturday was spent emulating The Man From U.N.C.L.E. jumping and climbing from stacked pile to stacked pile.

[daddeeo]

There still is a lumber yard over by Tyler and Greenfield
just south of Schoolcraft.
They had a big fire back in the early 60's.

[Grundyke]

There still is a lumber yard over by Tyler and Greenfield
just south of Schoolcraft.
They had a big fire back in the early 60's.

I heard just today in fact, that there used to be a lumber yard at Tireman and Colfax.

[Meddle]

There were lumberyards all over the place. Greenfield Lumber was at Greenfield and Fullerton if I remember right. Dewey's Lumberville was on Schaeffer near Lyndon. I think Wallich was on Lyndon near Meyers.

In the days before the big box stores like Home Depot, most of them doubled as hardware stores and contractor suppliers.

Here's an old ad that shows an address on W.Chicago, so they may have had more then one location.

http://books.google.com/books?id=uiU...etroit&f=false

And here's another directory showing an address on Schaefer [[maybe they bought Dewey's?) and one on Plymouth in Livonia [[I seem to remember that one also).

http://detroit.mi.reno-doors.com/Lumber-Dealers.html

The search also pulled up an old newspaper classified ads page in .pdf format that shows Help Wanted ads for both locations. Check some of the other ads and note the pay rates!!!!!!!!!!! [[$3.84/hr for a Welder, $2.35/hr for warehouse labor, $6,000/Yr for Oakland County Children's Village Supervisor)

http://www.farmlib.org/localhist/pdf...0800104007.pdf

.

[gazhekwe]

Yes, Mohawk Lumber was on W. Chicago between Schaefer and Hubbell I believw, south side of the road east of the tracks.

Love that Popular Science archive!

[satellite beach]

The one on Plymouth was just west of Farmington rd. I believe the one on West Chicago had a fire sometime around 1960 and they never recovered.

[gazhekwe]

.... I believe the one on West Chicago had a fire sometime around 1960 and they never recovered.

Maybe the fire was in 1966. It was still there in 1964-5, and I don't connect the fire with the fires of 1967. We used to go there frequently as we worked on our 'new' house [[Parent's house).

[slick]

There was a Mohawk lumber on 8 Mile, near Hoover.
Building is still there, lumber yard closed around 1990???
Building is now a auto junk yard.

One thing about the box stores, you can pick your own lumber.
Back in the day of the yard, it was more difficult to pick your own, unless you were a regular.

Lutz lumber on Mt Elliot and Frederick, was the local one when I was a kid in the area. It still is a yard, different name.

[MikeM]

Mohawk Lumber
and Supply Co
5 Big Stores to Serve You!

14525 W Chicago, corner Hubbell
11500 E 8 Mile Rd, corner Hoover
26640 Gratiot Av-Roseville, near 11 Mile
2170 Dix-Lincoln Park, near Southfield
33600 Plymouth Rd-Livonia, near Farmington Rd

[catch22]

The one on Plymouth was just west of Farmington rd. I believe the one on West Chicago had a fire sometime around 1960 and they never recovered.

The building on Plymouth Road that housed Mohawk Lumber in Livonia is now a Salvation Army Thrift Store. I remember going to the lumber store often with my dad. The back part of the building was a drive-through. You paid for the lumber at the counter and then drove in around back to have it loaded in/on your car for you.

[9936Sussex]

Thanks guys! I figured you folks would help me out. It was probably the one on West Chicago at Hubbell. Definitely close to my house!

[jilly]

There are tons of Mohawk Lumber ads in this 1948 radio program from WXYZ

http://randsesotericotr.podbean.com/...nuary-21-1948/

My husband grew up on Tireman and remembers it vaguely but it was before my time.
-J.

[313WX]

I'm not sure if it was posted, but they were involved in a supreme court case [[Fleming vs. Mohawk Wrecking and Lumber Co.)

http://openjurist.org/331/us/111/fle...umber-co-raley

[9606 Prest]

I believe the Mohawk Lumber located at W. Chicago & Hubbell suffered a major fire in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

[gazhekwe]

The fire was after 1965. Maybe 1966 or 1967.

[detlump]

I think the lumber yard on Plymouth in Livonia was called Salem Lumber. It was a gray building, I remember going there often as a kid, looking at doors while my dad bought lumber.Of course, we could always go over to Forest City on Middlebelt around the corner for some hardware, then it became Handy Andy and then folded [[to become a Wal Mart then close). Lowes was considering that site before the recession. Also would make a stop at F&M of course for some discount toothpaste!There was also a lumber yard at 8 Mile and Merriman called American Lumber, the building was painted white with red and blue stripes. It is now the site of a drug store [[like we need one on every corner).

[catch22]

I think the lumber yard on Plymouth in Livonia was called Salem Lumber. It was a gray building, I remember going there often as a kid, looking at doors while my dad bought lumber.Of course, we could always go over to Forest City on Middlebelt around the corner for some hardware, then it became Handy Andy and then folded [[to become a Wal Mart then close). Lowes was considering that site before the recession. Also would make a stop at F&M of course for some discount toothpaste!There was also a lumber yard at 8 Mile and Merriman called American Lumber, the building was painted white with red and blue stripes. It is now the site of a drug store [[like we need one on every corner).

Salem was further east, at the NW corner of Plymouth and Sears. Part of the building closest to Plymouth has been demolished, and the back part remodeled into general office space.

http://g.co/maps/5evxm

[satellite beach]

The fire on West Chicago was the late 50's.My grandfather lived on Steel South of West Chicago and the lumber yard was a few blocks west. He bought the salvaged lumber after the fire.I remember the dump trucks hauling it to the back of the little farm on Merriman between Plymouth Rd and Schoolcraft he owned and we lived at. It was smoke and water damaged but after it ran through his plainer it made fine furniture, sleds for the grandkids, checker boards and clocks. I want to say it was Sibley Lumber when it burned and changed hands after the fire but that was a while back and I am not sure of the names anymore.Always had as blast at Hines Park with his homemade sleds you could not steer.

[9606 Prest]

I believe that you are correct about the date of the fire at Mohawk Lumber on W. Chicago & Hubbell being in the late 1950s. Does anyone have documentation such as a newspaper article to pinpoint the date?

[Meddle]

No, and that's what's annoying me. I know there was a lumberyard fire in that area in the early to mid 70s because I'm pretty sure I have [[or had) pictures of it. I thought it was Mohawk, but it could have been Wallich. Memory is just too fuzzy that far back.

I've tried to do some searches, but I come up empty. I think you have to have a paid subscription to the DetNews or Freep sites to search the archives.

[Parkguy]

Meddie--
I just dismantled a workbench exactly like the one in the ad! It had seen its day come and go, but it sure served its purpose. I got it from my father-in-law when he retired to Florida in the mid-70s. Fifty years or so for twenty bucks. Pretty good.

[highjinx2]

Mohawk store and lumber barn DID NOT BURN DOWN.
A rival lumber company that also was on West Chicago burn down on 05/07/1957; the company's name was The Grace Harbor Lumber Company located at 14210 W. Chicago, a couple of blocks east of Mohawk.
My family was in the construction business; though I was only 4 when we moved into that general area; my siblings were well older then me, and I would go with them to Mohawk and other family members and subsequently on my own years later to buy building materials.
At no time do I recall Mohawk having suffered any fire damage to the store or lumber barn in the total of 19 years of going by or to the store or their lumber barn. Heck, I use to hang out at a bar on Hubbel right across the street from Mohawk.
I do recall the Grace Harbor fire though, it knocked out all the power on West Chicago so we had to leave Wrigley's that was on Meyers & West Chicago back then.
Sorry folks, but it wasn't the Mohawk that burned, it was the Grace Harbor Lumber Yard that did burn down on West Chicago at the railroad tracks.
My source of info, Detroit Fire department's extra alarm archives, and who better trust for fire information?

[bc_n_dtown]

Oh wow, I definitely remember Mohawk Lumber on W. Chicago and Hubbell as a kid. My father often took us there when he needed lumber supplies.
Thanks "highjinx2" for the DFD archive info to help clear things up. I knew Mohawk Lumber had to still be around at least until the early-to-mid-60s. If a fire had put it out of business in the late 50s I would have been way too young to remember the place.

[Mark Twain]

OK, 9936 Sussex, You've dragged me into memories of our old neighborhood again. I definitely remember Mohawk. Looked at Google Maps, trying to figure out exactly where it was on W. Chicago, then, unsuccessful, tried googling Mohawk and hit on this thread. I had pictured it a little west of Hubbell, but it seems that it was only two blocks from George Ford. [[Still haven't figured out who he was.) My neighbor worked there for a time. I remember seeing him when going there with my dad. Always wondered why my dad would check on him there, and also at Federal's up by Grand River and Greenfield. Found out years later, after Dad died, that he had helped the neighbor get back on his feet after some legal difficulties. Also found out, again years later, that Victor Reuther, Walter's brother, had survived an assassination attempt across the street from our house a couple of years before we moved there in '51.