A woodworking industry began in Union in 1946.
After Ancle Cleveland returned to Union in 1945 from World War II, he took a woodworking course on the GI bill at the Ross Collins Vocational School in Meridian. Finishing the school in 1946, he prepared to build a 2000 sq. foot concrete block building for use as a shop for his Union Cabinet and Furniture Company at 803 Jackson Road (Family Dollar location today). His brother, Ruben, joined him as a partner in the business, and his father-in-law, Basil Gardner, constructed the building. Having a successful beginning of building cabinets and refinishing furniture, they added 1000 square feet to their building and hired the first employee in 1947.
In 1950, they changed the name to Cleveland Wood Products and added more employees. Their main product by 1952 was children’s wagons. Next, in 1954, they bought the building that was joining theirs on the east from Leon Gardner and combined them into one large building. In 1955, they began shipping toy wagon bodies to Hamilton Steel in Chicago. Then in 1957, they became incorporated under the new name Cleveland Industries.
By July 1959, they had purchased 17 acres and started construction of a 24,000 square foot plant at 610 S. Decatur St., just south of the overhead bridge. When they relocated to the new facility in January 1960, they had 20 employees. They began making parts for furniture, selling mostly to Mississippi Products Inc. (MPI) in Jackson.
In 1962, Cleveland Industries, built in 1960, expanded by adding lumber dry kilns after the $75,000 bond issue passed. They then started making wagons for Radio Steel.
Things changed Feb. 28, 1966. Ancle and Ruben sold all of their stock in their industry to MPI from Jackson but retained a management contract to run the plant for five years. Three years later, Ruben resigned. Next, MPI merged with DeSoto and used the Desoto name. Ancle continued working there in a management position.
On Nov. 1, 1975, Bill Cassel, who had owned Prath Lumber Company, Ruben Cleveland, and Ancle Cleveland formed a partnership and a new company called Tri-C Wood Products. Then in January 1976, they began construction of a custom-built 21,000 square foot building at the south end of Bank Street, where the Buckwalter Lumber Company planer mill and lumber storage warehouse had been located. They began producing wooden wagon bodies and wheelbarrow handles.
Ancle’s oldest son, Harold Cleveland, began work for them in November 1975. After helping get the new business started, in April 1976, Ruben negotiated to get a refund of his money for his stock. They made their first trailer load shipment of wagons to Radio Steel in May 1976. Then the next month, Ancle resigned management at DeSoto, a company which did not want to produce wagons, and started full time at Tri-C.
Next, in April 1981, Ancle’s youngest son, Bobby Cleveland, began work at Tri-C. Shortly thereafter, Tri-C redeemed Bill Cassel’s shares of stock in the company in May 1981.
In January 1984, Tri-C moved its main manufacturing plant from Bank Street to the 70,000 square foot vacant DeSoto building owned by the town of Union on South Decatur Street. At that time, they were staffed with 48 employees. However, they retained the Bank Street building for a warehouse and later for a manufacturing, assembling and finishing. Finally, in January 1985, Ricky Cleveland, the middle son, moved back to Union and began work at Tri-C.
In 1987, Harold Cleveland, Ricky Cleveland, Bobby Cleveland, Bobby Barfoot and Jim Tucker opened Wood Plus in the planing mill of the old Tri-C location on McMahan Street. Wood Plus was organized to be a lumber concentration yard to buy lumber from small local mills. Wood Plus offered kiln drying, grading and planing services. That market declined but Tri-C’s product line, on the other hand, was expanding, and additional manufacturing space was needed. Equipment and people were moved into the main Wood Plus building to start sanding, assembly and finishing of daybeds, sleigh beds, bunk beds and other custom products. Wood Plus was then merged into Tri-C in 1996.
Tri-C continued to grow until around the year 2000 and peaked out at about 125 employees between the two locations combined. Then Tri-C lost the wagon business in 2004 and the furniture business in 2006 – amounting to 80 percent of sales lost to China. In 2004, Tri-C began producing solid hardwood flooring as the other business declined. The housing and flooring market crashed in 2006, and by 2008 Tri-C’s employment bottomed out at just 13 employees.
Over the last ten years, however, Tri-C has been slowly recovering from the loss of those long-term customers. Currently, Tri-C employs about 25 people and continues to produce solid wood flooring as its primary product while offering kiln drying and some additional manufacturing services. Included in the flooring product line is flooring made from pine and hardwood lumber reclaimed from old buildings – particularly 100-year-old textile mills and oak from Kentucky. Tri-C’s customer base is primarily dealers and distributors around the southeastern United States. Just since June of 2019, Tri-C has picked up a new product line, and flooring sales are picking up. As a result, Tri-C now has its best work load in about ten years.
Tri-C would like to express a word of appreciation to its loyal employees, some who have stayed with them 30 years or more, and to the town of Union, its leadership and citizens, for the support given to Tri-C and its predecessor companies. They look forward to the opportunity to continue to rebound in the future.
*Do you remember employees of this industry throughout the years?
If you have additions or memories, contact me at teresablount26@yahoo.com or 601-774-5564
