A Proud Heritage, since 1881
Quality and innovation go back a long way at Robbins Lumber. When Frank and Otis Robbins first opened their small stave mill on the St. George River in 1881, it was only the beginning. In those days production stopped in July at the water-powered mill as the St. George's River flow diminished. Trees were cut with crosscut saws and axes. Saws were filed by lantern light. In 1912, the family business began to grow as Otis' son James installed the first long lumber carriage. His son, Lawrence, brought diesel power to the mill in 1947, finally enabling year-round operation. Disaster struck in 1957, when the mill burned to the ground. Looking forward rather than back, the Robbins family rebuilt the stave mill, but added a new sawmill. A year later, with the new mills in operation, the family added another dimension to Robbins Lumber, planting their first Christmas trees. By 1968, the year those first trees were harvested, Robbins was planting 20,000 Christmas trees a year. In 1969, in need of more space and no longer dependent upon water power, the mill was moved to its current site.
Since the 1960's, Robbins Lumber has seen tremendous growth, always with an eye toward customer service through quality, efficiency and innovation. Responding to the energy crisis of the 1970's, an industrial wood waste-burning boiler was added that not only provided heat for all the mill's buildings, but could generate over 25% of its power. Since 2002 Robbins Lumber has had the capacity to generate over 50% of its power. Other energy efficient additions in the mill include: kiln vent exchanges, variable speed drives, computers, log scanning, and water recycling.
Today, Robbins Lumber Inc. owns and manages 30,000 acres of its own forests and buys logs from over 150 independent loggers. Milling operations are located on a 40-acre site in Searsmont that includes a 1.2 MW co-generation plant, 675,000 board foot capacity kilns, computerized sawmill, planing mills, cut up shop, 70,000 square feet of warehouse, and the company's general offices. Robbins Lumber takes pride in its safety record, employee tenure and employee benefits. We are here to help you serve your customers.