John Alexander

A group of business people in Wausau, Wisconsin sent John Alexander to Aurora to open a lumberyard.At the time John was a 25 year old Scottish immigrant who had to borrow $1,000.00 from his older brother to buy a one third interest in the new company that would carry the Alexander name.
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In the late 1930s, John Alexander bought out the other original investors and became the sole owner of Alexander Lumber Co.

Two of the original investors had also opened another yard in Wisconsin under the name Brittingham and Hixon Lumber Co.

Alexander was also able to acquire these and continued to operate them under that name.To this day both the Alexander Lumber Co and Brittingham and Hixon Lumber Co. remain in the hands of John Alexander's descendants.Several of his grandchildren and great grandchildren are still active in the day-to-day activities of management for the company.

In 1891, John Alexander launched the Alexander Lumber Company in Aurora and, by the late 1920s, he operated over one hundred lumber yards.