Looking Back

Over the next few weeks I will be posting snapshots of the business in ten year increments, starting with 1961.  Each will tell a little about the sales, the contractors who were frequent clients that year, and the interesting projects that the Mill worked on.  Stay tuned.

The mansion to end all mansions

River Run Manor (shown here) is a four story, 20,000 square foot Georgian mansion located in Goochland County, Virginia overlooking the James River. Completed in 1987 after 6 years of construction, this house is known county-wide.

It was the dream house of Edith and Bill (William Blair) Massey and still resides in the Massey family.

Sitting on a 60 acre parcel of land, this house has 40 rooms, 11 baths and 5 half-baths. Its many over-the-top features include 24-karat gold fixtures, Italian marble flooring, marble baseboards, 18 feet columns with 23- karat gold Corinthian capitals, a sauna, a steam room, and 12 inch modillion block egg and dart crown molding. The house has a separate floor consisting entirely of servants' quarters and is the equivalent of a residence in itself with a kitchen, living room, with a fireplace, library, four bedrooms and two baths. In addition, River Run Manor has a lower ballroom that can seat 150 people for dinner. Features in this 24’ x 39’ ballroom include a Waterford-style chandelier of antique Strauss crystals, handcrafted red oak spiral staircase and balcony , Louis XV carved marble fireplace and 24 feet from floor to ceiling. It was built by Taylor & Parrish (T&P), a contractor who frequently ordered millwork from Beckstoffer's.

For the Mill it represented the largest millwork job for a private residence they ever did and one of the largest 2 or 3 jobs in its history. While reviewing the 45 page order sheet, I ran across a diverse mix of materials such as heart pine, red wood, walnut, red oak and cedar. The first order for millwork was placed by T&P in October 1984 and orders came through the rest of 1984 and then sporadically in 1985 and 1986. All told, Beckstoffers produced $658,039 in millwork for the Massey house and the Massey job represented almost 30% of all sales in 1984 and just under 15% of sales in 1985.

Herman J. Beckstoffer Remembered

The below obituary was published May 13, 1997 in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Herman J. Beckstoffer was part of the second generation of the Mill family.

----------------------------------

Herman Joseph Beckstoffer Sr., retired president of H. Beckstoffer's Sons Inc., died Monday. The Richmond native was 87.

Mr. Beckstoffer retired from the firm in 1984 after serving as president for 50 years. What his father started as a Church Hill lumber mill, he made into an architectural millwork operation.

A 1927 graduate of Benedictine College, now Benedictine High School, he played a season of football with the Richmond Howitzers, a semi-pro team in the same league as the Washington Redskins before the creation of the National Football League. Soon after, he joined the family business.

He was a past president of the board of visitors of Benedictine High School and was instrumental in establishing the Benedictine Athletic Association.

A member of St. Paul Catholic Church, he was also a member of Saint Mary's Social Union, the West End Catholic Men's Association and the Church Hill Gang.

He was as a member of the board of directors of Holy Cross Cemetery for 50 years. He was a founding member of the Virginia Architectural Woodwork Institute and the Lambs Club as well as an adviser to the Richmond Technical Center.

Survivors include his wife, Rose Marie Simonpietri Beckstoffer; six sons, Herman J. Beckstoffer Jr. of Richmond, W. Andrew Beckstoffer of St. Helena, Calif., and Ronald A. Beckstoffer, Richard H. Beckstoffer, John C. Beckstoffer and Robert L. Beckstoffer, all of Richmond; two daughters, Rose Adele Gallo of Yardley, Pa., and Anne Marie Ajemian of Waynesboro; and a brother, Frank W. Beckstoffer of Richmond.

REPOST(4/22/10): Why'd you write this?

My job as a project manager with the Better Housing Coalition (BHC) has me working every day with the bones of an 80 year old brick factory called the Beckstoffers Mill. Beckstoffers is located on N 28th Street in the Church Hill neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. This 2.5 acre site, the former home of a custom architectural millwork and lumber mill, is currently in the process of being revitalized.

Plans call for the conversion of this former light industrial site to become a mixed-income, mixed-use housing development that will have 72 homes, some apartments, some houses, some town homes. But that's not the purpose for this blog. I am very fortunate to be able to manage the redevelopment of this complex development. But that's my day job and I tell that part of the Beckstoffers story often. Plus, others have managed the renovation of mills into housing or commercial uses so that's not so unique.

However, planning for the Mill's revitalization has provided a unique opportunity for me to understand the history, meet some of the family and learn some great stories of the Mill's impact on the greater Richmond area. It's a story of family commerce, quality craftsmanship, economic development and some really cool woodworking machines. I hope through this blog to tell the story of the Beckstoffer's Mill, some of the players involved, and the many homes and businesses throughout Richmond that the Mill touched in its long history.

Happy Birthday: Bring on the cake and candles

The Beckstoffer's Mill Blog is one year old so I will be reposting a few of the first posts from April 2010, with some minor edits to clean up style and spelling mistakes.  It has been fun so far and I look forward to even more posts (and hopefully comments from others) in the months to come.

1917 Snapshot of Henry

A publication called Richmond Virginia A Glance at Her History: A Review of Her Progress; A Sketch of Her Commerce featured Henry in 1917. 

Among the men of industrial affairs who have been highly instrumental in the advancement of the building interests of the city, is Mr. Henry Beckstoffer.  This gentlemen has been a resident of Richmond for the past eighteen years and is a native of Hanover, Germany, and we can truly say there is no citizen of Richmond more highly respected or more loyal to its interests.  Mr. Beckstoffeer established himself in business fifteen year ago and has given to Richmond one of her greatest and most modern woodworking plants.  His planing mill is equipped according to the most modern ideas, with all kinds of woodworking machinery and the plant and yards cover nearly an entire city block.  The products include all kinds of lumber, laths, shingles, sash, doors, frames, all kinds of fancy mill work, and in fact everything required in the line for general home building. These products are broadly sold throughout Richmond and the central part of the state.  The plant is located at 1209 North Twenty-eighth street, and has phone Madison 5013. 

The Theme Park that Beckstoffer's built

Now that Spring is in full swing, local amusement park King's Dominion has opened its doors for the season and I wanted to recognize the important role that the Mill played with respect to King's Dominion's start over 35 years ago.    A Richmond general contractor still in business to this day named Kjellstrom & Lee (K&L) was awarded much of the construction work and placed numerous orders for millwork for KD in 1974 and 1975 and this project was a huge source of business for the Mill in 1975.  That year orders from K&L for the park were for $326,000 of work, which represented almost 40% of all orders in '75.  Without the work for King's Dominion, sales that year would have been reduced from $833,753 to $507,179 and made it a fairly average year for the seventies.  Instead 1975 became the highest selling year for Beckstoffers up to that point.

Some of the buildings millwork was needed for include your standard theme park buildings like souvenir stands, games buildings, and first aid pavilions, but a number of the orders placed at Kings Dominion were for millwork for themed family leisure centers including French, German, Swiss and Italian buildings. 

The park held a soft opening in 1974 followed by a formal opening in 1975.  In 1975 the park opened with 15 rides including a log flume, antique cars, steam train, Ghoster Coaster and Rebel Yell roller coasters and a collection of flat rides.

K&L did business with Beckstoffer's since at least 1965.  To learn more about the firm, go here.