By Peter Roos
Need Better Wood Than The Box Stores Offer?
If you are living in a wood home in Paradise News’ readership area, there’s a good chance it was built with wood from Anderson Lumber Company at 666 49th St. S. This is more than a history story. Since 1908, the Anderson family has been involved with the construction industry. Back then, Theo Anderson built commercial structures and later his son, Harold, built houses. In 1949, the retail operation opened and a few years later, Harold’s son Ted took over and made the place a home improvement and specialty millworks operation. Today, the business is operated by the fourth generation, Ted’s son, Fred Anderson.
Anderson Lumber is an old-school specialty lumber yard. If you are looking for quantities of commodity lumber like pine studs and construction plywood, Anderson Lumber is NOT the place for you. “We do not compete with the box stores. We offer high-quality lumber and specialty lumber products generally milled specifically for your exact needs,” says Fred Anderson.
Harold C. “Happy” Anderson came home from MIT in the 30’s to help support the family. Happy built houses during the day, managing to save enough money to begin to purchase property on the outskirts of downtown St. Petersburg. He built the first warehouse on the property in the 1930’s. That building is now their mill. In the early 1940’s, Happy built a cottage on the property from military surplus. The slate shingles came from the soldier’s barracks at Ft. DeSoto and are still on the cottage today.
Along with house building, Happy started a retail building supply business and officially incorporated as the Harold C. Anderson Lumber Company Inc., on Jan. 22, 1949. As a believer in history and conservation, he purchased property on Park Street near 17th Ave. N – the site of an ancient Indian mound and the suspected landing point for Planfilo de Narvaez and his exploration of the new world in 1542. Happy ensured that the mound would stay intact and it is there to this day. Please visit www.sacredlandspreservation.org to learn more about the historic importance of this area. The Sacred Lands site is still owned and run by Happy’s son Erik and his wife Doris.
Ted Anderson, Happy ’s eldest son, served in Army Intelligence in Japan and briefly returned in 1957 to help run the lumber yard. After training in architectural millwork, Ted again returned to the business in 1962. After struggling to bring the business back to life, and with the addition of some other warehouses and out-buildings, Anderson Lumber grew to become competitive with some of the national chains of the period in the area. Ted believed in quality and this philosophy served him well as the business grew.
This philosophy of quality is still evident today. Since 2002, Ted’s son, Fred Anderson, has brought the Harold C. Anderson Lumber Company to the forefront of specialty custom hardwoods and milled products in St. Petersburg. They carry an amazing variety of U.S. grown domestic woods. Standard domestic stock items include:
- Cedar – Western Red, Spanish, Aromatic
- Cypress – #2 and Select
- Douglas Fir – Flat Sawn and Vertical Grain
- Southern Yellow Pine – C & Better
- KDAT – Kiln Dried, After Treatment Pine C & Better**
- Poplar
- Redwood
- Standard hardwood stock includes:
- Alder
- Ash
- Basswood
- Beech
- Birch
- Cherry
- Hickory
- Walnut
- Maple – Hard and Soft, Curly, Tiger, Spalted, Birdseye
- Oak – Red and White, Quarter and Rift Sawn when available
- large selection of exotics from Afromosia to Zebrawood.
They also have an amazing variety of marine-grade plywood in a variety of thicknesses and plies, including two pressure treated varieties, plus Starboard and Seaboard. If your budget is tight, go to the big box stores, but:
- if price is not the first thing on your mind and you’re looking to fix any part of your home that is made from wood, or
- you have any kind of specialty wood-working project in mind, or
- if you want custom mouldings
- if you want wood better than the big box stores would dream of carrying, do yourself a favor and check out Anderson Lumber, this historic lumber yard, for a century.
The customer service folks you’ll find there are very efficient and eager to help.Call 727-321-3111 or stop in at 666 49th St. S | 8-5 M-F, or 8-1 Saturdays. Visit www.andersonlumberstpete.com.