Our History

In 1948 C. Ross McKinnon started C.R. McKinnon Mill Works on the main street of Hillsburgh in the shed behind what is now known as Tina’s Restaurant. The original business concentrated on woodworking, primarily building wagon parts. Soon the community’s requests for lumber allowed Ross to expand his offerings to include building supplies. The phone number was simply 74r2.

  Since 1948 two more generations of McKinnon’s have taken ownership of the company. In 1971, nephew Ken bought the company from Ross’ estate. The business continued to flourish thanks to hard work and the communities support but it was outgrowing the backyard lumberyard. In Nov of ’79 a handshake sealed the deal with Bert Rodgers for the current property on the corner of 22 and Trafalgar Rd.

  In Jan 1980 the business moved to its new location. It looked much different then. Just a 50 x 30 structure with window and door samples making up the office walls. Today we have 4,500 sf of retail space, wood storage sheds, workshop and a fully stocked pine shed.

  Ken retired in 1985 selling the company to two of his sons, Murray and Keith. They continue to expand the business to meet the communities growing needs. They have tripled the size of retail space, expanded the lumber and hardware selection and created mini vignettes to inspire the do it yourselfers.

To the youngest customers they know McKinnon’s as the place that Santa comes to visit 2 weeks before Christmas.

A lot has changed since 1948 but the initial business values remained constant:

o        The McKinnon family is dedicated to supplying their community with quality building materials at a fair price.

o        Community support is very important to the McKinnon’s because they live here too!