Anyone want a historic lumber company?

Anyone want a historic lumber company?

The Mill Valley Lumber Co. is looking to hand over its circular saw to an eager buyer, as the Cerri family, which has owned the 120-year-old business since the late 1990s, says the mill isn’t financially cutting it.

The lumber mill, located at 129 Miller Ave. near the downtown, has struggled as a business since the economy tanked in 2008.

The Cerri’s say they’re tentatively planning to keep the saws buzzing through the end of the year, but if a buyer doesn’t step forward, they may simply have close up shop and let the wood chips fall where they may.

The lumber company had its genesis in 1889 when the Northwestern Pacific Railroad built a line from its Tam Junction stop deep into the valley at the base of Mount Tamalpais. The railroad ambled down the center of Miller Avenue and over Corte Madera Creek and terminated at what is now the downtown plaza.

It was along this last stretch of track that Mill Valley pioneer and shipping magnate Robert Dollar had settled in the 1850s. In 1892, Dollar took a look at the building boom around him and promptly converted his parcel of land into a lumberyard.

In 1912 it merged with Doherty’s Lumber Yard, a rival just a half block up the railroad tracks, to become the Mill Valley Lumber Company.

If your interested in Purchasing MV Lumber, call Jimmy at 415.990.8990.