Freres Celebrates Centennial Anniversary

Lyons, Ore.-based Freres Lumber Co., now doing business as Freres Engineered Wood, is celebrating its centennial year, marking a century of transformative growth and positive impact on the wood products industry, clients, employees, and its surrounding communities. Freres celebrates this monumental milestone by unveiling its new brand and logo which commemorate Freres’ longstanding history while reflecting its commitment to innovation and advancements as it looks forward to the next 100 years.

“The humble beginnings of one man’s dream to start a small sawmill has evolved over the past 100 years into a booming, modern business,” says Rob Freres, President of Freres. “Today, Freres is an innovative leader in the mass timber industry, committed to leading sustainability practices and supporting our community. We have developed a new brand and logo intended to reflect our roots in tradition while capturing our vision for the future.”

Throughout 2022, Freres will celebrate its centennial across the communities it serves through its philanthropic and community efforts, employee celebrations and industry events. Having achieved tremendous growth and impact over the past century, Freres remains dedicated to its core values of continued innovation, protecting and supporting healthy forests, giving back to, and supporting, local Santiam Canyon communities, and hard work and resiliency.

“It is hard to articulate the impact Freres has had on the Santiam Canyon and surrounding communities,” comments Fred Girod, Oregon State Senator. “They have provided multi-generational family wage jobs, served as community partners in efforts to improve our way of life and have always stepped up when help was needed. Freres’ long history serves as a shining example of what a family run business should be.”

Freres is one of the oldest family-owned and operated businesses in Oregon, specializing in bringing high-quality wood products to market, manufacturing veneer, lumber, and plywood and structural composite lumber.

“The Freres family business is a bright light in the North Santiam Canyon,” adds Kevin Cameron, Marion County Commissioner, a Detroit resident and wildfire survivor. “Supporting the efforts to build the Detroit Community Center and City Hall after the wildfires tore through the canyon is just one example of many in which Freres continues to give back and make a difference in the rural communities of Marion County.”

While steeped in tradition, Freres has a history of incorporating cutting-edge technologies to transform and modernize construction practices. In 2017, Freres engineered a monumental new finished wood product: Mass Ply Panels (MPP). The MPP line now includes panels for floors, walls and ceilings, beams and columns, and industrial mats. Like other industry paradigm shifts, MPP is changing building practices.

The company, formerly Freres Lumber Co., Inc., began in 1922 when T.G. Freres started a sawmill in Oregon’s Santiam Canyon. Now, across six wood products facilities, and three operations, Freres Engineered Wood Products, Freres Timber and Evergreen BioPower LCC, the company employs 500 people and produces finished plywood, lumber, veneer and structural composite lumber, MPP, biochar, and operates a cogeneration facility that supplies renewable power for the local area.