founder

Walter A. Woodard (W.A.) was one of Oregon’s original trailblazers, who made his success from logging and sawmill operations in the Greater Cottage Grove Area.

Born in Farnhamville, Iowa in 1889, his parents moved the family to Cottage Grove, Oregon in 1900. His introduction to lumbering came at age 11 when he sawed and chopped wood to be sold to the local railroad for locomotive fuel. In subsequent years, he became an expert in mill construction and lumber production, traveling throughout Oregon, assisting in the construction of sawmills in some areas and working in established sawmills in others, always digesting new techniques of plant construction and operations.

At age 29, W.A. bought used wire cable in California for $50 a ton and resold it to a mill in Oregon for $250 a ton. It was that money which enabled him to purchase 160 acres of timber in London, Oregon, just south of Cottage Grove. In 1919, W.A. made what he would later proclaim to be one of his wisest business decisions: he sold his timber to a Michigan company and agreed to partner with that firm to buy an existing mill in London, Oregon. That decision formed a long-lasting alliance between the Michigan company with large financial reserves and W.A., a man with technical know-how.

W.A. eventually became principal owner of that company. In 1921, he incorporated under the name Walter A. Woodard Lumber Company, later moving all mill operations closer to Cottage Grove before selling his land, timber holdings and mill to the Weyerhaeuser Company in 1957 which continues to operate the mill today.

W.A. was in business during years of extreme economic, social, political and technological change. The thirty-six-year history of the company witnessed two severe depressions, the rise of unionism, increasing government controls and revolutionary changes in logging and sawmill operations. Those who knew him described an energetic man who rose to the top of his profession through hard work, ability, toughness and being in the right place at the right time. He was one of a vanishing breed of entrepreneurs who started with nothing and achieved success by accumulating timber holdings and making shrewd business deci- sions. He had a dynamic business personality, displaying a strict, warrior-like ferocity when necessary, but was generally good-natured.

W.A. was once described as “the man who made Cottage Grove” and was among the last of Oregon’s large-scale independent lumbermen. His impact extended far beyond the lumber industry–he was dedicated to bettering his community with improvements and gifts that would have lasting benefits for Cottage Grove and nearby counties. Among the first of these gifts was the new library that W.A. presented to the City of Cottage Grove in 1950. He then made a large donation in 1951 that led the way to construction of a $300,000 community hospital. Finally, in 1960, W.A. built the Mobile 5-star/5-diamond nationally recognized Village Green Resort Motor Hotel, which put Cottage Grove on the map with its luxury amenities and welcoming ambiance.

In 1952, with a gift of $25,000, he founded the W.A. Woodard Foundation, establishing a means to support local causes with philanthropic gifts well into the future. In the decades following, the foundation and five generations of the Woodard family have done exactly that—upon its 57th anniversary, in 2009, the foundation had made 2,480 grants totaling $6.5 million and the and the foundation corpus had grown to $17 million.

Mr. Woodard died in 1971.