Bender Lumber Co

General information

"Quality Building Materials At A Fair Price"...It was a slogan of the company founded in the fall of 1931 in Bloomington, Indiana by a builder named Harold Wegmiller and a friend, Sylvester Davis. Known then as Wegmiller-Davis Lumber Company, the business thrived under this partnership. In 1936 Wegmiller bought out Davis and changed the company name to Wegmiller Lumber Company.

Harold Bender was hired as the first new employee of the Wegmiller Lumber Company. This event took place just minutes after Wegmiller's successful negotiations with Davis. Harold Bender became a key employee, helping Wegmiller operate the business for the next twenty-seven years. Success was built primarily on Harold Bender's talent for working with customers and skill in drawing house plans, and Wegmiller's ability to finance builders. By the early 1960's, the company's annual sales volume was approximately $500,000 per year.

During the spring of 1963, Harold Bender, his son (John Bender), and John's two brothers purchased the company from Wegmiller. This was to begin a time of expansion which would result in the opening of branches in Martinsville, Bedford, Paoli, Seymour, Washington, Madison and Columbus, Indiana, and continues today.

Today, weekly sales volume far exceeds 1962's annual volume, when the Benders first bought the business. Bender Lumber has become a fixture in the community and a valuable partner to builders, homeowners and remodelers throughout Southern Indiana. Bender Lumber is ranked nationally in the top 150 companies who sell lumber and building materials in the U.S.