Wilbur Lumber Company

George H. Wilbur established The Wilbur Lumber Company in 1895, and ran it until his death in 1922. At one time the company supplied 500 dealers, and was a major feature of the industrialized Fox River corridor. In the 1950's some of the buildings on the site were knocked down to make way for other structures, and in 1970 the company officially went out of business. The Wilbur Lumber Company lives on in the memories and recollections of Waukesha residents.

George H. Wilbur was born in 1839, in New York. In 1861 he enlisted in the army and served in the Civil War, fighting in several battles including the battle of Shiloh. Wilbur then entered the lumber business as a bookkeeper, eventually becoming a partner and manager at T.H. Judd & Co. The self-named Wilbur Lumber Company later incorporated that company. When Wilbur passed away in 1922 he left the company to his son, Ross H. Wilbur, who ran the company until his death in 1947. The company then passed on to Hawley W. Wilbur, one of George's sons and a former mayor of Waukesha.

The Wilbur Lumber Company employed people from many backgrounds and skill sets. Stephen Bollogh, for example, immigrated from Austria settling first in St. Louis, Missouri before relocated to Waukesha. Bollogh lived on Hartwell Avenue with his wife and children, and worked at the Wilbur Lumber Company. Bollogh died in 1941 at the age of 82, and is buried in the St. Joseph cemetery. Little is recorded about Mr. Bollogh, but other individuals are highly documented. Martin F. White, for example, is known to have worked as a staff architect for the Wilbur Lumber company, and eventually became assistant treasurer. He was instrumental in the design and construction of Waukesha's fourth street water reservoir, as well as designing the home of Hawley W. Wilbur. White spent fifty years working for the Wilbur Lumber Company, and eventually passed away in 1975 at his home in Wauwatosa.

The lumber company was prosperous but not without challenging times. In 1947 a three year old girl, Sandra Hannon, told her grandfather that she saw a fire. The grandfather called the fire department, and the firefighters soon arrived at the Wilbur Lumber Company. The lumber company's silo had caught fire, and while the concrete structure remained intact the fire did cause around $20,000 at the time in damages. As an interesting side note, the silo originally belonged to the Waukesha Canning Company and previously contained the peas for canning.

In 1955 the Wilbur Lumber Company was knocked down to make room for the Waukesha State Bank, and in 1962 the lumber company closed their jobbing department. Morgan Sash and Door Company, based in Broadview, Illinois, purchased the company, and while some of the staff were transferred, other employees were laid off. Ultimately the Wilbur Lumber Company went out of business in 1970, leaving behind a decades-long legacy of industry in Waukesha.

George Hobart Wilbur, FamilySearch. Accessed August 5th, 2022. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/9Z3D-HYP.

Hegglund, Tim. Martin White: An Art Deco Legacy. Landmark. 28 - 36.

Knutson, Gay G. Theresa Mitchell: One Hundred Years in the Heart of Waukesha. Landmark. 7 - 12.

Stephen Bollogh, "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch. Accessed August 5th, 2022. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV28-ZYF4?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=2WD6-9J2.

Stephen Richard Bollogh Sr. (1859 - 1941) , FamilySearch. Accessed August 5th, 2022. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/2WD6-9J2.