Brundidge Business Association will honor Dickert Lumber Company at its annual banquet

C. L. Dickert Lumber Company, Inc. in Brundidge is possibly the oldest manufacturing company in Pike County. Its origin can be traced to 1914 when Charles Lester Dickert moved to Pike County and began operating a sawmill near the community of Tennille.

On Jan. 17, the Brundidge Business Association will honor C.L. Dickert Lumber Company with the Industry of the Year Award at its annual membership and recognition banquet.

"C.L.Dickert Lumber Company has been such vital part of our business community for so many years and promises to be for years to come that we wanted to recognized the Dickert family for its many contributions to the support and betterment of Brundidge," said Rue Botts, BBA president. "Businesses like Dickert Lumber Company have contributed greatly to our economy and are the reason that Brundidge continues to grow and prosper. We just want to say thank you to Dickert Lumber Company for all that it has meant to our community over the years and wish them continued success in the future."

Don Dickert is the president and operator of the thriving lumber company. He has a keen interest in the history of the company that was founded by his grandfather, C.L. Dickert.

"The mill was moved to Brundidge in 1921 and a partnership was formed with Mr. L. M. Fleming, who was in the retail lumber business and owned some good timberland," said Don Dickert, C.L Dickert's grandson who owns and operates the lumber company. " They operated under the name Dickert Fleming Lumber Company, until 1932 when the partnership was dissolved. My grandfather purchased Fleming's retail lumber business and continued operations which had grown to include the sawmill, a planer mill, and a veneer mill."

During the period from 1922 - 1932 economic conditions were so depressed and credit was so restricted that Dickert-Fleming Lumber Co. issued "trade checks", known locally as "light-weight".

"It was made of aluminum and looked like coins with the same denominations as coins minted by the U.S. Treasury except that the one-cent was not used," Dickert said. "Between designated paydays employees could obtain advances against their wages, or they could borrow, and such advances were made with this 'light - weight' sometimes called script.

"For a period of several years most all labor drew lightweight at the end of each workday for his days earnings and promptly spent it at the Company commissary for his family's daily needs."

Local merchants readily accepted the "light -weight" in exchange or payment for purchases, even though they knew that when they brought the light-weight to the company office on the first of each month, they would be required to discount it by 10%.

The use of the light-weight minimized bookkeeping and, being accepted as a medium of exchange, minimized the necessity of borrowing at the bank. Dickert said.

C.L. Dickert owned and operated a Commissary during most of the time he was in business. Staple groceries, some dry goods, gasoline and oil were available at the Commissary.

In 1948, C. L. Dickert formed a partnership with his sons Ralph Dickert, C.F. "Butch" Dickert, Lamar Dickert, Jack Dickert, and son-in-law Gilbert "Gib"Weston.

The elder Dickert died in 1949, but the partnership continued; and in the early 1950s, the operation included mills in Kinston, Union Springs, and Brundidge, as well as the building materials business and a charcoal business in Brundidge.

In the mid 1950s, the company opened a building materials store in Panama City, Florida.

During the late 40s and early 50s the business operated four logging camps and bought rough green lumber from thirteen operators of portable saw mills.

In 1959, the sawmill operation was closed and assets of the business were divided among the partners. Ralph Dickert continued doing business under the name C. L. Dickert Lumber Company, operating a hardwood concentration yard on the same property where the Brundidge sawmill had stood.

In 1961, the company entered into an agreement to provide and maintain tractor-trailer equipment under lease for a local food manufacturing plant's transportation needs while continuing to operate the hardwood concentration yard.

During 1967, the company began manufacturing wood pallets for industrial customers. In 1977 the truck lease operation was terminated.

In April 1980, the business was incorporated with Don Dickert as president, Ken Dickert and Haldine Dickert Baxter as vice presidents, Hallie Dickert as secretary/treasurer, and Ralph Dickert as chairman of the board of directors.

Ralph Dickert died in December 1981. The business continued and today it is owned by Don Dickert, president, Haldine D. Baxter, vice president, and Ken F. Dickert, secretary-treasurer.

"We produce wood pallets for a wide variety of industrial customers from agricultural to plastic products," Dickert said. "These pallets are built to customer specifications mostly with hardwood lumber using automatic nailing equipment." The company maintains the concentration yard by purchasing green hardwood lumber from area sawmills and marketing primarily to the furniture and flooring industries. Lumber offered for sale includes southern red and white oak, hickory, ash, poplar, maple, beech, sycamore and cypress.