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Introduction to the Past
Since 1910, the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) has promoted healthy forests and forest-based economies through the efficient, sustainable use of American wood resources. These past 100 years have produced an extraordinary amount of research. From propellers and paper to construction materials and fire safety the Forest Products Laboratory has helped make life easier, more comfortable, and infinitely more rewarding for almost every American.
The early years of the 20th century were brimming with industrial promise and ingenuity. The American frontier spirit of lumberjacking and self-reliance was still held in high regard. In 1910, James McGillivray's first story about the giant lumberman Paul Bunyan was published in the Detroit News, locomotives steamed coast to coast and the professional class took to motoring through the countryside in pursuit of recreation and leisure. Cultural advances coincided with pursuits in the biological sciences and environmental conservation resulting in efforts to maximize America's wood resources through a more efficient stream of production.
In 1907, McGarvey Cline, Chief of the Office of Wood Utilization in the U.S. Forest Service, proposed to colleagues that, in order to improve coordination among disparate centers of research, one main Forest Service research laboratory be established. By January 1909, Gifford Pinchot, head of the Forest Service, made an offer to the University of Wisconsin (UW) in Madison to be home to this new central research laboratory. The offer was accepted with much acclaim by UW President Charles Van Hise. Forester Pinchot then, surprisingly, retracted the offer in light of objections by Congressman James McLaughlin of Michigan and a separate offer from the University of Minnesota. Heated deliberation ensued. Eventually, a February meeting between Pinchot, Van Hise, and Wisconsin Senator Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette, among others, at the exclusive Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., turned the tide. On March 5, 1909, the day after President Tafts inauguration, the announcement was made by Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson that Madison, Wisconsin, would indeed be home to the Nations first central wood research laboratory.
Architectural planning proceeded quickly. By December 1909, the assembly of laboratory equipment began, and by spring of 1910, administrative offices opened. McGarvey Cline was named director prior to the official opening on June 4, 1910. The Forest Products Laboratory...