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A 1940s Butcher Block at WorkMichigan Maple Block History
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End grain laminated hard maple butcher block was developed as the practical answer to the needs of the meat cutting industry over 100 years ago. Pioneer in the development of fine butcher block products, Michigan Maple Block Company has been a constant leader in the field. Today, whether end grain butcher block or edge grain work benches, counter tops or cutting boards, butcher block is not only the best work surface but a symbol of excellence, in a butcher shop, gourmet restaurant, office or home.
Michigan Maple Block, located in the heart of hard maple country, is one of the largest and oldest manufacturers of butcher block products in the nation. The success and renown of its butcher block is in large part due to its history of continuous operation, by one family, for nearly all of its 100 years in Petoskey, Michigan.
In the early 1880’s, Petoskey was little more than a village at the end of Little Traverse Bay in northwestern Lower Michigan, in the heart of the booming lumber country. On the Bear River, which emptied into Little Traverse Bay at Petoskey, after meandering through the countryside behind the village, two businessmen founded a woodenware manufacturing plant, in 1878. The original owners, a Mr. Baker and a Mr. Forbes from Kalamazoo, sold the business after a few years to Frank and Fred Bauerle. Near the turn of the century, Chicago businessmen Charles H. Broman and Frederick J. Schmitt became interested in the business as a result of their work with the meat cutting industry.
Broman and Schmitt had recognized the problems inherent in the then standard meat cutting block, a log section of southern sycamore. Not only did it tend to split as it dried, but its size was limited by the size of the log. Schmitt and Broman determined that a large laminated hard wood cutting block could be the answer. Broman bought out the Bauerle brothers to begin manufacturing laminated butcher blocks while Schmitt traveled the country as national sales representative.
The company, known as The Petoskey Block and Manufacturing Company, invested in timberlands and purchased cut lumber from local sawmills. They built their own sawmill on the factory’s 13-acre site. Enormous dry kilns were constructed with hot air supplied by the burning of the plant’s scrap wood and sawdust. The new end grain laminated hard maple butcher blocks were enormously successful; easily replacing the sycamore rounds, whose tendency to split had created sanitation problems. Today, properly dried, hard maple remains the ideal wood for butcher blocks. The close grain provides a smooth surface, easily cleaned and cared for.
By 1903, Schmitt had become the company’s majority stockholder. His grandson, John Dau is now President of the company. Schmitt refined the appearance of the butcher block, making many design improvements. From 1907 through 1916 he obtained several patents for his "Butcher’s Chopping Block" and most importantly for his technique of laminating still known as "Wood Welded"
The name of the company was changed from Petoskey Block & Manufacturing to Michigan Maple Block Company, when Schmitt perceived that "Everyone knew where Michigan was and knew that Michigan maple was a good wood"
By 1907, Michigan Maple Block employed over 60 employees with a payroll of over $41,000.00 annually. They had become "the largest sectional block manufacturer in the United States," according to a 1906 catalogue. The butcher block business grew steadily and by 1908 was the company’s sole product. The plant covered 25,000 square feet of floor space. The circulating air dry kilns could handle 15,000 feet of lumber, each.
"We are better situated for maple lumber than any factory in our line of business today, as we own large tracts of maple timber lands and operate a separate sawmill in connection with our block business," a 1908 catalogue explained. "We cut the lumber—to the very best advantage and sort out and pile the best quality in separate piles to be used for blocks…which we do not use until the same is thoroughly air seasoned…we have on hand several million feet of seasoned maple all the time."
By 1908, Michigan Maple Block was producing butcher blocks, reversible blocks, bench tops, cutting benches, mallet and die blocks and custom cutting boards. Custom blocks were produced for shoe factories, glove factories, envelope factories and shirt factories. Special boards were constructed for harness factories for cutting the heavy leather in the harness collars. And cigar makers were using Michigan Maple Block butcher block for cutting boards.
The patents Schmitt received in the early 1900’s focussed on "improvements in sectional wood blocks and cutting boards…to provide a sanitary, durable and efficient butcher’s block intended to be used in the cutting up of meat or other food products containing more or less moisture." He patented "a composite of built up block, made of a series of wooden segments securely fastened together to form a substantially homogenous mass." Subsequent refinements to this, the standard "Wood Welded" Michigan Maple Block, included a variety of tool hangers, disappearing drawers and scrapers—conveniences to the meat cutters.
With such a basic and needed product, and with materials readily available, even the Great Depression of the 1930’s did not stop the manufacture of Michigan Maple Block Company products. Already the largest industry of its kind in the midwest, by the 1940’s Michigan Maple Block butcher blocks were being used by the food industry and specialized cutting industries across the country. Kroger Grocery and Baking Company, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, the United States Army, and myriad smaller customers were using Michigan Maple Block Company products.
The characteristics of laminated maple butcher blocks created unusual demands for their use. Not only is maple very hard, resilient and durable, it is a non-conductor of electricity. In the 1940’s the top-secret Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago where the research for the first atomic bomb was conducted, used Michigan Maple Block Company custom sized blocks as insulation. In the 1960’s, the space industry turned to Michigan Maple Block Company to fabricate three round blocks to press out the nose cone of the moon rocket. These blocks, 72" in diameter and 36" deep, weighed over two tons. They are believed to be the largest blocks ever fabricated in the United States. Despite its many uses the basic product has not changed in the 100 years of Michigan Maple Block Company and its predecessors.
Improved technology, however, has resulted in significant changes in methods of lamination. The introduction of the electronic gluing machine has increased the speed of the laminating process and resulted in a stronger "weld." The factory has undergone a variety of changes. The old 500 horse power steam engine, which used to be fed all the plant’s waste wood to generate electricity, no longer drives the long line shaft to power the machinery. In 1963, the old WHS class Whitcomb gas locomotive, which had hauled loaded flat cars of logs from the railroad to the mills and later, cut timber to stock piles, was replaced by a 25,000 pound capacity fork lift truck. The original dry kilns have been replaced with new electronically monitored forced draft kilns, capable of handling 270,000 feet of lumber at a time. Techniques which enhance production and reduce overhead, thus keeping a hold on rising costs, are instituted regularly. Now the wood waste and sawdust are used to heat the plant and dry the lumber.
Most importantly, the grandson of Frederick Schmitt inherited his deep love for wood and his concern for the quality of their product. The warm beauty of a modern butcher block, whether end grain meat cutting blocks or edge grain counter tops is a source of pride to everyone at Michigan Maple Block Company.
"There is probably no surface other than butcher block that can take so much hard wear and tear, be repaired without special technique or skilled craftsmen and come up looking as good as ever." That observation by Christian Science Monitor writer Marilyn Hoffman, on January 10, 1978, epitomizes the practical appeal of hard maple butcher block products
Beyond the practical, there is a romance to wood. Fine wood products, hundreds of years old, are prized as antiques, loved for their warm patina, coveted for the history they imply. Wood, unlike most other materials has the ability to age gracefully. The fine hard maple of butcher block embodies these practical and aesthetic qualities. Used butcher blocks are actually worth more than new ones, if the material is sound.
No other material, especially not plastic, ages as wood does. For a brief time in the mid 1950’s plastic was considered a wonder product, which would replace wood. But the very properties that made plastic initially popular caused the return to wood. The porosity of wood allows cleaning agents to penetrate below the surface, effectively sanitizing the work surface, unlike plastic which, because it is self-healing, cannot be thoroughly sanitized. Wood has been a preferred cutting surface historically. Maple, with its close grain, hardness, lack of color, durability, and the fact that is does not dull cutting tools, is the most desirable wood.
In the Wood Welded composite of a Michigan Maple Block Company butcher block, the laminated individual pieces of maple come together in an unique pattern of colors and grain. "No two pieces of wood are ever the same."
"If you own a piece of butcher block, all the money in the world cannot replace it. It’s like a fingerprint."
"That’s rather unusual today," Dau remarks. "What else can you say uniquely belongs to you?"
Michigan Maple Block butcher block products are sold around the world, to people who recognize and value these qualities. A list of individuals who have butcher block products in their homes or work places would read like a celebrity who’s who. Currently Michigan Maple Block can be found at the FBI headquarter in Vandenburg, VA, The John Paul Getty Museum in Los Angelos, CA and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Our cutting boards and preperation tables can be seen on many of the most popular television cooking shows. Our Locker Benches are also used by World Champion sports teams like the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field and The Detroit Red Wings.
From the United States to the Austrilia, from Canada to South America, From England, Belgium, France and Germany in Europe around the world to Japan Michigan Maple Block Company butcher block products are in use.
