A century of success, a legacy to share

Loewen Centennial: Reflecting on the past. Looking to the future.

In 2005, Loewen celebrates a century of business success.

Over the past century, wars, depression, automation, mass production and globalization of the economy have challenged even the most resilient businesses.

For Loewen, these challenges were windows of opportunity. Grounded by an unwavering commitment to exceptional wood artisanship and motivated by a tradition of entrepreneurship, three generations of the Loewen family have successfully pursued local, national and international markets to become a global leader in premium wood windows and doors. A fourth generation is poised to continue this powerful legacy.

Loewen has long been – and will continue to be – a home for progressive leaders and skilled artisans who apply their talents to crafting fine wood into quality products valued worldwide. Through a century of change, the central business function continues as it began: focused on a tradition of hard work, a passion for wood craftsmanship and a spirit of enthusiastic entrepreneurship.

The Loewen business began in 1905, led by C.T. Loewen, a first-generation Canadian who had learned sawyer skills from his immigrant father. In order to support his family, father C.B. had not only farmed, but had also run the sawmill, a threshing team and a building moving operation. Not surprisingly, this spirit of entrepreneurship and hard work was passed along to his son.

C.T.’s determination found promise in the vast boreal forest bordering Steinbach. Together with the emerging markets in Winnipeg and across the Canadian prairie, this opportunity translated into great potential for C.T. The success of the enterprise soon led C.T. to establish a storefront on Steinbach’s Main Street.

In those early years, the business aggressively pursued a wide range of ventures – selling coal, moving buildings, vending ice – that changed with the economic tide.

Through it all, millwork and a passion for innovation kept wood products at the forefront, and in 1919, a sash and door joinery factory was built. The growing Loewen lumberyard supplied building materials for many of the large two-storey homes built in Steinbach in the 1920s.

As the Great Depression gripped North America, the Loewen business was put to the test. Like many businesses in the 1930s, Loewen faced harsh economic conditions. C.T. intuitively sought to find and fulfil market demand. The manufacturing of beekeeping equipment – a logical response to war-era sugar rations – grew to be an important part of the operation. The Loewen mill built many of the wood components sold to apiaries across Canada, and embarked on its first national marketing campaign in 1936 with the publication of a catalogue of beekeeping equipment.

Times changed, and the company continued to adapt. When rural electrification spread across Manitoba farmlands in the 1940s, Loewen won a contract to supply the thousands of wood cross-members needed to string power lines to create the electrical grid.

By the end of the decade, the Loewen lumberyard had not only survived, it had expanded, adding a warehouse and a showroom that featured electric lamps, ovens and irons among the millwork.

The addition of a lumber kiln in the late 1940s ensured uniform drying and allowed Loewen to branch off into a variety of millwork items, including office furniture. Increasingly, however, windows and doors became the Loewen specialty and passion.

In the post-war years, Canada’s residential construction market was booming as members of the country’s military returned home. C.T. Loewen again refocused his business, choosing to focus exclusively on the lumber and millwork business that was growing quickly in response to the burgeoning residential construction industry.

At this time, it was common for carpenters to manufacture windows at the building site. As the industry struggled to meet a growing demand for housing, Loewen jumped on board a new residential construction concept, and in 1948, began to build pre-assembled frames and sashes in its Main Street plant, selling the finished product through local lumberyards.

By the early 1950s, C.T.’s sons – Edward, George and Cornelius Paul – had become leaders within the company. Ed and George focused their energy on the lumber business and made the C.T. Loewen lumberyard one of the largest in Manitoba. They sold building materials, ready-built homes and, of course, the Loewen-Bilt windows and doors created under the supervision of brother Cornie (also known as C.P.) at Loewen Millwork.

Despite local success, the Loewen window business was only in its infancy. In 1959, Cornie returned from a meeting with western Canada’s largest lumber chain with a surprising announcement. He informed his brothers that he had signed a contract making Loewen Millwork the sole supplier of windows for Beaver Lumber’s western stores.

The resulting major investment in window fabrication at Loewen Millwork charted an ambitious course. Later that year, ground was broken just outside of Steinbach for a new 57,000 square foot plant – the single largest investment in the company’s history.

The company continued to grow during the 1960s. From Ontario to Alberta, local lumberyards made Loewen-Bilt windows and doors available to builders and homeowners. Plants and offices were expanded. C.T. Loewen & Sons gained recognition from provincial and national organizations both for its product improvements and for stimulating employment, as the company became the region’s leading employer.

By 1972, with both the millwork and lumberyard successful and increasingly independent, the brothers agreed to a divergence. Ed and George would continue with the lumber business (with Ed subsequently retiring) and would retain the name C.T. Loewen & Sons. Cornie would create a new company: C.P. Loewen Enterprises (formerly Loewen Millwork).

Through nearly seven decades and two generations, Loewen grew from a one-man sawyer’s shop to a millwork company that saw sales grow to reach across the prairies. In the years that followed, this success would grow internationally in a way the company’s visionary founder could not have predicted.

Learn more about Loewen’s Centennial by visiting www.loewen.com/1905.

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