Substantially damaged in the August 2018 flood, the former Kendall Lumber buildings were being demolished last week. Jim Schroeder owns the structures.
The County Line published the following summary of the lumberyard’s history in 2014, when Schroeder closed the business:
“According to the book ‘A Promise Kept’ by Kendall native Terry Sheridan, John Phillip Sheridan purchased the property in 1892 from R.B. Dunlap, who ran a lumberyard near the property Sheridan had purchased. Ten years later, Sheridan launched his own business, and it remained in the Sheridan family until 1962.
“Kendall resident Bob Mahr said he believed Sheridan employed a wheelwright and manufactured carriages in the early years.
“Sheridan opened the lumberyard in 1902 and enjoyed a windfall of business when nearly all of Kendall’s downtown was destroyed by fire in 1903.
“Sheridan often road the rails West to purchase lumber for his yard. He also tangled with lumber thieves, tracking down 12 Greek immigrants who had stolen from his lumberyard and used the material to build shelves and closets in the home they shared.
“In 1925, he sold the business to his son, W.P. Sheridan, a World War I veteran.
“Evidently, in 1962, he sold the business to Steven Schwedrsky, who sold it to Metro and Elizabeth Palamaruk in 1967. They added a stock rack manufacturing business to the lumberyard and ran a thriving business for many years. In 1990, they sold the business to their son, Bruce, who sold it to Schroeder in 2010.
“Few small-town lumberyards survived to the end of the 20th century, with those in Wilton, Norwalk and Elroy dropping by the wayside in the past few decades.”