Orv Johnson is the manager of the Hendricks Farmers Lumber Co., which began operation back in 1915.

Orv Johnson, manager of Hendricks Farmers Lumber Co., wears a lot of hats during the course of any given week.

Hendricks Farmers Lumber started back in 1915 at it present location at 219 South Main St. in Hendricks. He’s been the manager for 14 years, having taken over for Alden Olsen, who held that position for 45 years.

Johnson is a hometown boy and started working in the lumber yard when he was in high school. He attended Moorhead Technical College and was hired by Olsen in 1988.

The town’s hardware store was for sale up the block and across the street, so the lumber yard purchased that, and Johnson managed that new part of the business for several years.

“Then Alden retired and we decide to add on (to the present location), remodel and put everything in one spot. That was in 2014,” he said.

Building material prices went wacky during Covid, said Johnson, something that was unexpected.

“I was kind of surprised,” he said. “The margins went crazy. OSB (oriented strand board) went from $10 (a sheet) to $60. If you had a lot of inventory, you were in good shape.”

Eighty percent of Hendricks Farmers Lumber’s business is construction-related, he said, and the hardware end of the business has what most handymen, and women, need to tackle projects. His wife, Lisa, has managed the hardware side since 2003.

The business builds from 8-to-12 homes a year, he said, and it also puts up many ag buildings.

Hendricks Farmers Lumber is affiliated with Ace Hardware now, said Johnson, and the move from Hardware Hank has proven to be beneficial for the business, and its customers, “We can tell if we carry what the customer wants from the Ace website, and we can get it for them. That’s a growing part of our business.”

The company began its affiliation with Ace Hardware in 2023.

Hendricks Farmers Lumber has built a lot of custom homes in the region over the years, said Johnson, but the trend now is toward a simpler type of home.

“More senior-friendly, a patio home,” he said, noting a move in recent years to homes without a basement.

Johnson also said that his business “doesn’t see the highs and lows” that other parts of the country experience.

“It’s more steady-Eddy,” he said.

Hendricks has a population of 600, but due to it location adjacent to Lake Hendricks, that approaches 1,000 in the summer months. Johnson is proud of the town’s Main Street and the many types of businesses located in town, though the closing of a restaurant recently is concerning.

“We don’t have a place to have breakfast,” he said.

That concern comes from another hat that Johnson wears, that of chairman of the local Economic Development Authority.

The Farmers Lumber Company itself helps with economic development. For instance, it purchased a Main Street building and sold it for $1, with the understanding a business would be up and running at that location.

As a leading business in Hendricks, Farmers Lumber is approached often to support various civic and school causes in the community, and the region. Schools that have been supported in recent years include Hendricks/Estelline (S.D), Deubrook and Elkton (both in S.D.), along with Canby, Ivanhoe, and Minneota.

“We do all we can to support them, whether that’s financially, or auction items and prizes. We really don’t say no.”

Hendricks Farmers Lumber is overseen by a seven-member board of directors, and Johnson is given a lot of leeway in running the business. “As long as we are making money, which we are,” he said. Initially, 195 shares in the business were sold back when it started, and that’s all that were ever sold. “Others have asked about buying shares, but that’s all that were sold,” he said. “The board meets five or six times a year, and they allow me to be generous in the community. As long as we keep it in the black, that’s all that matters. We give back as much as we can, and the board is about giving back, too. We try to keep Hendricks thriving, that’s good for all of us.”