Woodburn Fertilizer was originally owned and managed by the Burlingham Family which ran the business for three generations. The Burlingham family had been in the seed business since the 18 th century with great, great, great grandfather John Burlingham establishing the first family seed mill at Sapeston, England in 1773. John's son George established G. Burlingham Seeds at Bury St. Edmunds in 1815 and his son Ernest settled in Forest Grove, Oregon where he established the firm of E.F. Burlingham & Sons. His second son, Frank, established a feed and seed operation at woodland, Washington in 1920 and operated the firm until purchasing Woodburn Feed and Supply in Woodburn, Oregon in 1941.
In 1954 Frank Burlingham brought his only son Don on board, after he graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Business. Frank retired after 22 years and sold the business to Don in 1963. In the mid 1960's, Don changed the name of the firm to Woodburn Fertilizer and Grain to more clearly define the activities of the firm. In 1978, the same year Don's only son Scott became active in the business, a devastating fire completely destroyed the feed mill built in 1892. Ironically, Scott, a member of the Woodburn Volunteer Fire Department at the time was called to the scene of the fire. It was his first call as a volunteer fireman . Don decided against rebuilding the feed mill as the market reflected a downturn, and focused on becoming more aggressive in the seed cleaning, fertilizer and chemical business. With that decision came the construction of a million dollar seed cleaning facility that remains in operation today with the capability of cleaning and storing over 10 million pounds of grass seed.
Plagued by fire once again in 1997, the main fertilizer blending facility burned to the ground. Without missing a beat and to the amazement of all, not one day of production was lost. With a little ingenuity, a dedicated staff and a few extra hours, the small packaging facility was able to “keep the store open” until the fertilizer plant was reconstructed. In late 1998, the doors opened to a bigger and better state-of-the-art fertilizer blending facility with a multitude of functions and capabilities.
In February of 2005 Woodburn Fertilizer was purchased by Wilbur-Ellis Company, a le ading international marketer and distributor of agricultural and industrial products, with sales exceeding $1.474 billion in 2004. The Company remains privately held, with ownership concentrated primarily within the founding family.
What sets Wilbur-Ellis Company apart is that we have always been a company for and about people-about relationships between employees, customers, business partners, and owners, about the integrity we bring to these relationships, and about the vision and ingenuity we bring to solving customers' problems.
