ABOUT US

The story of Peacock Lumber spans seventy years.

I guess you could say it all began back in 1889 in Elizabethville, Ontario with the birth of Victor Peacock. After serving in the military during World War 1, Victor left the family farm and worked as a carpenter and general contractor building barns, houses, churches etc. He spent time working in Victoria B.C. and Florida before returning to Ontario and marrying a woman named Leafa Doncaster. They had two children, daughter Duane and son John Clair.

In 1939 at the age of fifty, Victor started Peacock Lumber on Richmond Street in Oshawa. The original focus was on building doors, frames and windows for the building industry.

In 1947 Victor opened another facility at 328 Ritson Rd. to manufacture wood mouldings. All the operations were eventually moved to this facility and dry kilns were added during the 1950’s.

During the 1960’s sixty-five percent of the business was dedicated to drying, dressing and ripping lumber for chesterfields and chairs for Sklar Furniture.

Clair Peacock became actively involved in the business in 1964 as Victor approached his eighties. Clair saw an opportunity to expand the business in retail sales. Peacock Lumber joined the BOLD buying group, which later became Castle Building Centers. This enabled them to expand the product line and compete with other lumber and building supply companies.

After the recession of the early 1980’s Peacock experienced substantial growth. The property grew two-fold as an adjacent factory (T.G. Gale) and two residences along the Ritson Rd. frontage were purchased. Clair also invested in a wood waste boiler system to heat the dry kilns including two new dehumidification kilns. A large addition was added to the mill and a new Wadkin Moulder was purchased as demand for Peacock made mouldings increased.

In the early 1990’s there was another recession resulting in dramatic changes to demands for Peacock Lumber’s core businesses. Housing slumps as well as the beginning of a decline in furniture manufacturing took its toll, particularly on custom kiln drying and retail building supplies. In addition, Home Depot entered Canada taking a good portion of the retail market. Both of Clair’s children, son Glen and daughter Cara joined the business on a full time basis.

Peacock Lumber continued to manufacture quality wood products and began to emphasize quality, selection and price, specifically in the wood products category including wood mouldings, paneling and planed four sides product. Hardwood plywood became a major category as a complement to solid lumber products. Stocking both raw materials and finished goods in many species including Eastern White Pine, Red Oak, Hard Maple, Cherry, Yellow Birch, Ash, Walnut, Mahogany etc. Peacock Lumbers’ reputation as Durham Region’s lumber experts continues to grow.

John Clair Peacock-Quick BIO

Clair has been a member of the Board of Directors for Oshawa General Hospital Foundation (OGHF) since the 1980’s and served as Chairman of the Board for the Hospital in the early 1990’s. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Second Marsh. He is inducted into the Oshawa Sports Hall of fame as part of the Oshawa Collegiate Canadian School Boy Championship Team 1953 and also Connaught Park Soft Ball Teams 1951-1953.

He holds a Bachelor or Commerce from the University of Toronto and an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School.