Founded in 1872
Lincoln Davies Co. Grows with Times and Changing Customer Base
By Mary T. Stronach, Special to the Observer-Dispatch
Back in the late 1800s, progress divided Summit Crest farm as the railroad came through. But farmer-owner David Davies recognized an opportunity as the railroad’s Paris Station became a gathering place for farmers shipping milk to market. So in 1872, he founded a business at Paris Station selling supplies and coal to farmers. That business became Lincoln Davies Company (named after son Lincoln), which, 137 years later, includes an expansive lumber yard occupying several buildings along those railroad tracks. Atop the hill overlooking the lumber yard is the main complex of Lincoln Davies buildings at 8689 Summit Road, which serves as a farm and building supply center, massive hardware store, lawn and garden outlet, window and door center, and even general grocery store.
“We pride ourselves on quality,” noted the founder’s great, great grandson, Ed Jones, who runs the business with wife Joanne and their ten employees. For example, he said, “our lumber is second to none; by buying better lumber, we sell all of it.” Contractors and home owners don’t have to waste time culling out bad pieces, he said.
Quality and value are what kept customers coming back, he said, even as working farms faded from the landscape over the years, and Lincoln Davies attracted more and more non-agricultural customers. To illustrate the dramatic change, Jones said that in 1970, when his dad took over the business, there were 19 working family farms on Route 12 between Utica National Insurance in New Hartford and the village of Waterville. “Today, from Utica National to Binghamton, there are only four working farms on Route 12.”
Lincoln Davies partners with Reserve Supply cooperative buying group, which makes it easy to order such things as custom-engineered floor systems (blueprinted, cut and marked) for home builders. And the business just switched to a “greener” pressure treated lumber for decks, swing sets and other outdoor use, which has the lowest amount of chemical, while lasting longer and resisting rot, decay and insects.
Jones grew up in the business that his father bought from uncles and aunts. But when he went off to college, majoring in aviation management, he thought the “grass was greener” elsewhere. He became a pilot, rising to the positions of chief pilot and director of operations for Mohawk Airlines until that commuter airline went out of business. Then, in 1993, “I came home to work with my dad. I never looked back.”
The original farm was purchased in 1853, Jones said, with the railroad splitting it in 1869. A small store was built near the railroad in 1872. Then in 1890 the main store, which still stands today, was erected on Summit Road.
In 1900, ashes from a passing steam engine set the lumber and coal yard ablaze. The fire burned for six weeks. The business suffered a $25,000 loss – huge in those days.
Ten years later the family got another scare when the first of three blackmail letters arrived, with the perpetrator threatening to kill the children and burn down the store if he didn’t receive $200 in 20-dollar bills. The family hired a detective and the girls started carrying pistols.
In 1917 Lincoln Davies died, and daughters Hazel and Florence took over running the store along with Grandma May Davies.
Ed’s father, Ronald, purchased the business in 1970. Ed and Joanne took it over in 2005. Ed is the 5th generation to work at Lincoln Davies, and his nieces, Darcy and Hollice, along with his sons Ron, Evan and Clayton, are the 6th generation to help out.
“We offer personal and knowledgeable service,” Ed said. “Every customer that walks through the door is important to us.” |
