Fwd: LAST WOODWORKING SHOP SHUT DOWN IN "SAWDUST CITY" OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN - conglomerate Jeld-Wen brought Morgan Door, forced out the Carpenters Union and then shut the factory down

[gregory...@aol.com]

from the [OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN] NORTHWESTERN:

June 9, 2009

Jeld-Wen closing marks end of lumber industry in city

By Patricia Wolff
of The Northwestern

The closing of the Jeld-Wen plant in August will not only mark the beginning of unemployment for 79 workers, it will also mark the final end of Oshkosh's once dominant and storied lumber industry that defined its first 100 years.

"In my mind this closing would be the last gasp of the lumber era in the city of Oshkosh," said Clarence "Inky" Jungwirth, a local amateur historian.

The former Morgan Door Co., which occupied a large parcel along the Fox River at Oregon Street and Sixth Avenue and once occupied lots on the opposite side of Oregon Street with an overhead walkway connecting them, first opened in 1868 by brothers Richard Thomas Morgan and John Rodgers Morgan.

The brothers had been involved in various partnerships for the manufacture of sashes, doors and blinds. They formed Morgan and Brother in 1868 and became Morgan Brothers and Co. after 1882, when a cousin, Thomas Rowland Morgan joined the business, according to records kept by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Throughout the years, Morgan gained a reputation as the maker of fine wood products including doors, windows, fireplace mantels and stair railings. Next to the Paine Lumber Co. it was the largest lumber company in the city. At the height of production in the early 1900s, Morgan employed around 1,000 workers, Jungwirth said.

Oshkosh earned the nickname "Sawdust City" from its extensive network of lumber mills, furniture and word-working plants with a fresh supply of raw materials floated from the northwoods through the Wolf and Fox River systems.

Morgan figured prominently as a manufacturer in Oshkosh for many generations. Jeld-Wen, based in Klamath Falls, Ore., bought the former Morgan Door Co. in 1998. At the time Morgan still employed 373 people.

In 2001, Jeld-Wen completed construction of a new, 61,000-square-foot manufacturing plant on West Sixth Avenue and soon after tore down the old buildings that had long been city landmarks.

Marv Schwebke, who first started working for Morgan in 1948, stayed until 1990 as a grinder and a molding sticker making stair rail parts, said he saw the end coming even back then.

"I loved the work. I loved the people," Schwebke said. Everything was teamwork. I could see it coming when I retired. Things were going down hill in the attitude. There was no teamwork."

Over the years, the city's economic development agencies worked closely to keep the jobs in the community. Doug Pearson, executive director of Chamco, Oshkosh's industrial development arm from 1994 to 2008, worked first with Morgan Doors and then with Jeld-Wen on employee training and financing incentives aimed at strengthening the company.

"What I do know from working with Morgan Door and Jeld-Wen is that those businesses are very cyclical. When housing starts are down, their business is dramatically down," Pearson said.

Indeed, company officials blamed the closure on a stagnating housing industry. Director of Corporate Communications Teri Cline said the entire company had been hit hard by the downturn in the housing market and the influx of imported doors.

Pearson agrees with the first part, but not necessarily the part about the competition from foreign markets.

"I'm not a doomsayer for American industries in wood production. With sufficient technology and upgrades in technological skills, American wood products companies can be as productive as foreign companies," he said.

At closing time Monday afternoon, a steady stream of cars, trucks and vans left the parking lot off Sixth Avenue. Several drivers stopped but none was willing to talk to a reporter about what the closing of the business meant to them. One man just shook his head and said, "You don't want me to tell you what I think."

Employees were notified Friday about the Aug. 7 closing. The Oshkosh plant was the company's last to manufacture solid wood stile and rail doors. All other Jeld-Wen plants produce doors made from wood fiber, metal or other materials.

Jeld-Wen began in 1960 as a small Oregon millwork plant with 15 employees and today operates 63 manufacturing and distribution locations in the United States, and operates in 22 countries, according to the company.

All 79 employees are still at the plant in Oshkosh and will remain until August. None will be transferred to other Jeld-Wen plants, said Plant Manager Mike Schnell.

The employees, some of whom were once members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 1363, are no longer represented. Details of employees' severance packages were not released by the company. The company has hired NextJob, a national employment placement company, to help the displaced workers find new jobs, Cline said.

---

---

Dell Deals: Don't miss huge summer savings on popular laptops starting at $449.