Tontine Building

Bethel Mills, one of the nation’s oldest building material suppliers...

Our story began during the Revolutionary War when the founding fathers of Bethel offered 550 acres and a mill site on the river to a Colonel named Joel Marsh. The conditions of this offer stated that Col. Marsh was to build a saw and gristmill by the Fall of 1780 in order to provide employment and supplies for the new town. The building of the mill was delayed a bit when most of the villagers fled as a neighboring town was being raided and burned by Indians. When the threat of attack diminished construction resumed and by 1781 Bethel Mills was open for business. A good business it was, often grinding corn and sawing timber into the night to meet the local demand.

	Flood of 1927

For nearly the next 100 years the mill was operated continuously by the Marsh family; continuously except for the flood of 1830 that destroyed all but the Tontine building (shown above). After rebuilding, the mill continued as both a social and economic hub of Bethel, with the upstairs of the Tontine used as Bethel's community hall. (As a historical side note, this office housed Bethel's first working telephone.)

The great flood of 1927 is legendary throughout Vermont, and again Bethel Mills was hard hit. When the waters of the third branch finally subsided, the dams, the sawmill, the grain mill, the land, the railroad siding, and much of the inventory was lost. Mr. Washburn immediately started to rebuild the sawmill on a site 1/4 mile upstream. By 1928 the mill was once again in operation.

In 1933, Raymond Durfee came to Bethel looking for employment to support his family. A.N. Washburn was the current owner of Bethel Mills and agreed to give Ray a job as a salesman for grain & lumber. It was in the midst of the depression, and Bethel Mills like so many other businesses was struggling simply to keep its doors open.

Bethel Mills Sawmill - 1950’s

As fate had it Mr. Washburn died a week later and his widow, Lydia relied heavily on Raymond's good judgment, hard work and management skills to guide the business through these troubled times. In appreciation, Lydia Washburn offered to incorporate the company with him in 1937.

By the late 1930's business was starting to pick up again - the saw mill especially. It was during this time Bethel Mills entered the business of generating electricity. Unable to reach a fair agreement with the power company over electric rates they were charging Bethel Mills inspired Raymond to build a small hydroelectric plant at the site where the old mill dams had stood before the flood. Mr. Durfee withstood much ridicule from both the power company and the local folks as to the feasibility of such a task.

Less than two years later, with mostly second hand equipment and using his own employee's he was producing more than enough power to supply the mill.

	Ray Checks The Electrical Meters

Ray even had the last laugh as during WWII, even the power company came to him asking to purchase his excess generation, an arrangement that still continues today.

Raymond's wife, Gladys, came to work in the billing office in 1942. As Gladys stated - "I was just going in to help out for a short time" - well she retired nearly 30 years later. Gladys was known for her accuracy with numbers (to the penny!), and her no-nonsense business style. Tight control over the accounting was truly an asset for this struggling business.

Gladys and Ray made a good management team, however it got even stronger when their son John joined them after college. John was instrumental in growing the two divisions - lumber and grain to new levels.

Employees of Bethel Mills

While business was still good, John could see more opportunity supplying a broader range of building materials to service the general contractor. His philosophy was to provide better quality materials for a competitive price. Sounds so simple but this emphasis on supplying the best value instead of selling the cheapest grade of product proved wise and continues to be entrenched in our philosophy today.

In 1964, Raymond suffered his second heart attack and realized it was time to "retire". Although still involved, the business was turned over to John for day-to-day operations. In 1968, John had built a warehouse to house the growing number of lumber and building material items, and by 1970 the sawmill was basically closed in favor of purchasing lumber from select western and Canadian mills. Just as it was hard for John to shut the saw mill, an even harder personal decision had to be made in the late 70's. It was this period that the number of farms in Vermont were declining rapidly. John was approached by a large grain distributor about the possibility of selling that division.

	Old Grain Mill

After much thought he decided to sell the grain mill that he and his father had built and focus all energies on selling lumber and building materials. It was this 10-year period that John had redirected the company from manufacturing and production to retail and distribution.

Bethel Mills continues to be operated by the Durfee family today, now into its third generation. Raymond's grandson Lang took control of the day to day operations in 1996 and quickly put his mark on the company. Goal one was to put the "house in order". Over a 5-year period, the fleet of trucks and forklifts were completely upgraded. Storage sheds were built to protect all inventory items. The facilities were paved and reorganized. A computer system was installed and supported that offered consistent customer pricing while tracking inventory for the buyers. E-commerce and other technologies were implemented. Goal two was to focus on a target market: The general contractor. "Unfortunately we had lost our focus and tried to be all things to all people" stated Lang. Our product mix, our quality, our discount programs, our equipment and our sales staff are now all positioned to go after the quality oriented General contractor. And goal 3 was to grow the company. With a strong economy and a talented staff that is just what Bethel Mills has done! Double digit record growth over 5 straight years made Bethel Mills not only the oldest Vermont company, but one of the fastest growing companies as well!

John Durfee and grandson Matthew

In the spring of 2000, Lang made the company's first acquisition by purchasing the nearest competitor, Central Supplies in Randolph. The acquisition allowed Bethel Mills to further focus on the General Contractor while Central Supplies was positioned to focused more on a consumer oriented product mix.

The employees and management of Bethel Mills have worked hard to earn their customers' business and are fortunate enough to enjoy a friendly relationship with both their suppliers and their competitors.

So much has changed in the 220+ years we have been in business, but not our customers' expectations - they have always expected the best from us! So, now that you know a little bit about our past, please give us a chance to be part of your future. We are a toll free call away to find out how good it can be to trade with a firm that has "old fashioned values" but modern day services.