CAMDEN - David Baird Company

The David Baird Company was founded by Irish immigrant David Baird Sr. in 1878. A protege of William Joyce Sewell, David Baird Sr. found a great success in the lumber business, and after Sewell's death in 1901, led the Republican party in Camden for many years. David Baird's business was national in nature, as he had lumber operations in eight states and operated ship's spar yards in five different cities. When David Baird Sr. passed in 1927, his son, David Baird Jr. took control of the company.

Much of the business of the David Baird Company was in lumber used in ship and barge construction. When the demand for wooden ships began to fall off after 1935, and the increased use of reinforced steel in construction. business declined. David Baird Jr., who was more heavily involved in the insurance business as president of the Smith-Austermuhl Insurance Agency, closed the yard and sold off its assets in June of 1950.

The site of the Baird lumberyard is now occupied by the Campbell Field baseball stadium, home of the Camden Riversharks.

Camden Courier-Post - July 5, 1926

Front End
of
Modern Sawmill

This mill is equipped
with all modern
labor-saving improvements
for the
manufacture
of
custom lumber

Entrance
to
Oak Yard

Alongside
Elevators
to the new
Camden Bridge

Group
of
Electric
and
Steam Cranes
which handle
units of lumber
in and out of yard

Discharging barge load
of
North Carolina
sizes
of
three and better boards

Manufactured
at
our own mill
at
Haystack, Virginia

Lot
of
White Oak Logs

suitable
for ship and
heavy construction

One of the labor saving devices adaptable for the distribution of lumber

	Downtown Camden Photo taken about 1925

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Camden Courier-Post - June 7, 1950

...Continued...

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