The complex that is now Tedford’s Lumber on Brown Square was part of the S. F. Canney Box Factory and Woodworking Shop and is believed to have been built after the fire that destroyed Canney Lumber and the Burke Heel Factory in June of 1933.
Tedford’s Lumber got its start in 1946 when James Tedford Sr. and Bill Martin, just back from the Navy, took a portable sawmill into the woods along Linebrook and Topsfield Roads to cut timber. That winter was very tough, and the next year they decided to open a lumber yard on Brown Square, which had been in business for almost 70 years, now continuing operations with new owners.
The old Wirthmore Feeds grain elevator at Telford’s Lumber had a long history of use by several businesses for grain storage, including Wirthmore Feeds, William G. Horton, C.M. Jewett @ Co., and Chaplain’s Grain Storage. The structure is said to have been moved from its original location near the Town Wharf, and the top section was added at the new location at Brown Square. It also survived the Burke Heel Factory fire in June of 1933.
Tedford and Martin Lumber
Historic Ipswich 