Bethel Mills

History

Bethel Mills is one of the nation’s oldest building material suppliers…

Our story began during the Revolutionary War when the founding fathers of Bethel offered 550 acres and a mill site on the 3rd Branch of the White River to a Colonel named Joel Marsh. The conditions of this offer stated that Col. Marsh was to build a saw and grist mill by the fall of 1780 in order to provide employment and supplies for the new town. The building of the mill was delayed a bit when most of the villagers fled as a neighboring town was being raided and burned by Indians. When the threat of attack diminished, construction resumed and by 1781 Bethel Mills was open for business. A good business it was, often grinding corn and sawing timber into the night to meet the local demand.

For nearly the next 100 years the mill was operated continuously by the Marsh family; continuously except for the flood of 1830 that destroyed all but the Tontine building (shown above). After rebuilding, the mill continued as both a social and economic hub of Bethel, with the upstairs of the Tontine used as Bethel’s community hall.

The great flood of 1927 is legendary throughout Vermont, and again Bethel Mills was hard hit. When the waters of the third branch finally subsided, the dams, the saw mill, the grain mill, the land, the railroad siding, and much of the inventory was lost. Mr. Washburn immediately started to rebuild the sawmill on a site 1/4 mile upstream. By 1928 the mill was once again in operation.

In 1933, Raymond Durfee came to Bethel looking for employment to support his family. A.N. Washburn, the current owner of Bethel Mills, agreed to give Ray a job as a salesman for grain & lumber. It was in the midst of the depression, and Bethel Mills like so many other businesses was struggling just to keep its doors open. As fate had it, Mr. Washburn died the following week of spinal meningitis and his widow, Lydia relied heavily on Raymond’s good judgment, hard work and management skills to guide the business through these troubled times. In appreciation, Mrs. Washburn offered to incorporate the company with Ray in 1937.

By the late 1930′s business was starting to pick up again – the saw mill especially. It was during this time Bethel Mills entered the business of generating electricity. Unable to reach a fair agreement with the Central Vermont Power Company over electric rates they were charging Bethel Mills compared to other local saw mills, inspired Raymond to build a small hydroelectric plant at the site where the old mill dams had stood before the flood. Mr. Durfee withstood much ridicule from both the power company and the local folks as to the feasibility of such a task, however in less than two years, with mostly second hand equipment and using his own employee’s, Ray was producing more than enough power to supply the mill. Ray even had the last laugh as during WWII, the power company came to him with hat in hand asking to purchase his excess generation; an arrangement that continues today.

Raymond’s wife, Gladys, came to work in the billing office in 1942. As Gladys stated – “I was just going in to help out for a short time” – well she retired nearly 30 years later. Gladys was known for her accuracy with numbers (to the penny!), and her no-nonsense business style. Tight control over the accounting was truly an asset for this struggling business.

Gladys and Ray made a good management team, and it got even stronger when their son John joined them after college. John was instrumental in growing the two divisions – lumber and grain to new levels.

While business was still good, John could see more opportunity supplying a broader range of building materials to the quality conscious contractor. His philosophy was to provide better quality materials for competitive prices. Sounds so simple but this emphasis on supplying the best value instead selling the cheapest grade of product proved wise and continues to be entrenched in our philosophy today.

In 1964, Raymond suffered his second heart attack and realized it was time to step back. Although still involved, the business was turned over to John for day to day operations. In 1968, John had built a warehouse to house the growing number of lumber and building material items, and by 1970 the sawmill was shut down in favor of purchasing lumber from select western and Canadian mills. Just as it was hard for John to close the saw mill, an even harder personal decision had to be made in the late 70′s. It was this period that the number of farms in Vermont were declining rapidly and John decided to sell the grain mill that he and his father had built and focus all their energies on selling lumber and building materials, as this seemed to have the brightest future. It was this 10 year period that John had redirected the company from manufacturing and production to retail and distribution.

Bethel Mills continues to be operated by the Durfee family, now into its third generation. Raymond’s grandson Lang took control of the day to day operations in 1996. Over the next 10 years, Bethel Mills took advantage of the improving housing market and made substantial investments to the facilities and equipment. The old tender fleet of trucks and forklifts were replaced and upgraded. New storage buildings were added to provide protection for the entire inventory. The warehouses were renovated, reorganized and the yard was completely paved to provide a clean, efficient, and safe workplace. The efficiencies didn’t stop there. Trying to stay current and take advantage of the technological revolution led to a complete overhaul and upgrade of the computer systems. These changes provided huge productivity gains and the ability to add many customer conveniences such as 24/7 service and instant e-mail of invoices.

The local market was changing rapidly however, and careful planning would be essential. Large competitors were becoming very aggressive and the Big Box stores that have been common in the urban areas for decades were now springing up in and around Vermont. “This market shift encouraged us to refocus our business” said veteran salesman, Tim Branstetter. “Like many small businesses, we were trying to be all things to all people from the same store and it was becoming inefficient”. This realization helped the company to make its first acquisition in 2000 by purchasing the nearest competitor, Central Supplies in Randolph. “Lang’s decision to make this purchase allowed Bethel Mills to focus on the building professional and Central Supplies to focus on the consumer market”.

The formula worked well. With a talented staff and a strong economy, Bethel Mills grew dramatically over the decade. In fact, double digit record growth over 5 straight years made Bethel Mills one of the fastest growing companies in Vermont and was recognized by Governor Douglas with the “5x5x5” award for exceptional growth in the retail sector.

The boom years came to an abrupt halt in 2006 as parts of the country became over developed, over speculated, and with over extended credit, the housing market crashed, which eventually grew into the great financial crisis of 2008. In 2 years, the economy went from the best of times to the worst of times since the Great Depression. Fortunately, with solid conservative management philosophies ingrained from his father and grandfather, Lang with the support of his dedicated colleagues managed Bethel Mills through these extremely difficult times even when companies like General Motors, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and many other large businesses were going bankrupt right and left. During the height of the economic panic, Bethel Mills made the risky decisions to acquire Brandon Lumber and Millwork & Hancock Building Supply from Robert Read in 2008, and Britton’s Lumber and Hardware in Taftsville/Hartland from Len Britton in 2010. The philosophy was simple and straightforward: Add neighborhood lumberyards in good markets and give them the staffing, the inventory, and the equipment to provide good old fashion service, but with relatively low overhead in order to survive the predictable cycles that our industry goes through.

The employees and management of Bethel Mills have worked hard to earn their customers’ business and are fortunate enough to enjoy a very favorable relationship with both suppliers and competitors. “We are proud of our long history and proud of our current business of being the area’s premier supplier of quality lumber, hardwoods plywood, building materials, hardware, tools, paint, lawn and garden products, as well as home and farm supplies, all right around the corner!”

Bethel Mills: A company that respects the past, is focused on the present, and is looking forward to the future!