Family Iu lOO year

I I SUALLY you slow down when lY youhitage 100. ButYancey LumberCo., Newman, Ca., iscelebrating its centennial with newfound vigor.

Renovation is an irurovation at the company which began in March 1892 when Thomas G. Yancey bought yards in Newman, Crows Landing and Patterson, Ca., from San Joaquin Lumber. Company records reveal the Newman yard cost him $5.

The founder had operated a general store and lumberyard in Hills Ferry, Ca., when in 1888 he joined the exodus ofresidents andbusinesses moving from the river to along the just completed Southern Pacific rail line. Back then, lumber companies received product from the mills by riverboat and rail. Yancey made its own deliveries with drays, low wagons pulled by a pair of horses.

Fence posts, fence boards and barbed wire were the biggest sellers. The eldest Yancey had a simple business philosophy: a lumberyard should sell lumber. If customers want nails, they can go to a hardware store.

He died in 1914, and his son, John H. Yancey, became manager of the corporation. His son, Thomas Grayson Yancey, joined the business in 1935 and took over when his father passed away. Thomas Grayson Yancey died in 1990.

The company grew to include a yard in Gustine, but now only the Newman and Patterson locations remain. Their customers are roughly 60% homeowners, 3O% commercial and lO% contractors.

The company stayed basically the same until recently, when new man- agement was able to convince the older ownership that the guiding principle of the 1890s could not hold up in the 1990s. "There were not a whole lot of changes until the last few years," says general manager Kern Hunewill, the only person outside the Yancey family to ever own stock in the corporation. Though Hunewill started working at Yancey Lumber Co. part-time during grammar and high school and has been there full time for 20 years, he was able to introduce a fresh set of eyes to the business. Facilities were modemized and remodeled. New equipment was added. And the inventory was drastically expanded, especially in hardware, plumbing and electrical. And, says Hunewill, "we plan to continue to

Story at a Glance

Central California yard gets new blood for its second century... looking back to the days of horses and riverboats while thinking about tomorrow.

expand and improve and diversify. We'll cany new products, wherever we can find a niche."

Still, moving ahead doesn't mean ignoring the past. An office building built by the founder still serves as Newman headquarters. It's just been expanded and remodeled.