Hood Distribution is a division of Hood Industries and is comprised of two business groups (McEwen Group and McQuesten Group), each with long, rich histories.
The company’s first distribution acquisition in 1995, McEwen Company, has come a long way since a 25 year old entrepreneur named Wooster McEwen founded it in 1899. Starting with the then princely sum of $2,000, Mr. McEwen began providing lumber products and establishing a reputation for service to the people of Asheville, North Carolina.
Through hard work and a solid reputation for quality, the company gradually established more operation sites: first in North Carolina, then nearby Virginia and eventually throughout the southeastern United States. From the days of true horse power, then through two world wars and a major economic depression, McEwen Lumber thrived with its high quality standards for both products and service.
Today, the McEwen Group stretches across the Southeast from North Carolina to Florida to Tennessee, and to points far west in Arizona. Although far greater in scope than even its founder might have dreamed, the McEwen Group hasn’t forgotten the ideals that made it successful. And, it’s those ideals that attracted Hood Industries in their purchase of the company in 1995.
The company’s next acquisition came in 1998, McQuesten Company. In the middle of the Nineteenth Century, George McQuesten began supplying lumber for builders of ships and houses in New England. Today, in the Twenty-First Century, McQuesten remains a strong and vibrant company, still providing high quality wood products to New England’s craftsmen through independent, retail dealers.
