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Four generations on the same Highland farm.
Armstrong Millworks began humbly on a family dairy farm in 1948, and it can still be found on that same parcel of land today. Here's how a side business with a tractor-powered planer became the mill it is now.
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1842
The family comes to Highland
The first members of the family settled in Highland, Michigan on December 29, 1842. Generations later, their farm would be named a Michigan Centennial Farm, and after 150 years a Sesquicentennial Farm.
Milford Times, 1993
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1948
Roland and Howard start milling on the farm
Howard Armstrong and his father, Roland, were dairy farmers on 130 acres in Highland. Seeing what the neighbors needed, Howard started a small millwork business on the side, using a tractor-powered wood planer and hand tools, in a farm shop built a couple of years earlier.
The start-up money came from a 1913 Model T. Howard bought it for $5, restored it, and sold it for a $245 profit. That paid for a 10 inch table saw, a 6 inch jointer and a bandsaw.
Armstrong Millworks; The Detroit News, 1991; Milford Times, 1995
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Early years
Whatever the neighbors needed
Potato and apple crates in the winter, chicken feeders, wagon and truck beds, stakes for Detroit Edison, baseball bats, cabinets, trophies, altars, crosses and church furniture. Howard's wife, Thelma, kept the books, caught boards off the planer and did the engraving. The dairy herd stayed until 1956, and before long the woodworking had eclipsed the farming.
Armstrong Millworks; HighLander, 1994; Oakland Press
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1971
Armstrong maple goes to the moon
During the Apollo program, NASA contacted Howard for wood to use on the moon buggy. Armstrong supplied hard maple for the Lunar Rover. As Howard told The Detroit News: “We provided it, and as you know, the Rover is still on the moon.”
The Detroit News, 1991; Milford Times, 1993; HighLander, 1994
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1990s
Wood with famous friends
Newspaper stories from the 1990s list where Armstrong wood ended up:
- A Paul McCartney guitar
- Detroit Tigers bat blanks
- Oprah Winfrey's home
- A table for Air Force One
- A table on Lee Iacocca's airplane
- A crib for Cher's son
- The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island
- The Detroit Institute of Arts
- Rockers for Gov. Engler's triplets
The Detroit News, 1991; HighLander, 1994; Milford Times, 1995; Oakland Press
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1994
The next generation takes over
Howard officially retired on January 1, 1994, and his sons Tom and Dennis ran the shop. By then the library held more than 300 molding patterns, and by 1995 more than 400, along with 20 kinds of rosettes and 30 types of handrails.
HighLander, 1994; Milford Times, 1995; Michigan Woodworkers' Guild, 1999
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1998
Fifty years
The mill marked its 50th anniversary, still on the farm, still in the family.
The Armstrong Millworks crew in the lumber shed, around 1998. Front, from left: Sue, Howard and Thelma Armstrong. Back: Adam, Dennis, Tom and Mark Armstrong, and Tedd Hill. Doug Mills, 1998
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Early 2000s
Mark and Adam come on full time
Tom and Dennis' sons, Mark and Adam, grew up around the mill, surrounded by the same hard work and integrity their fathers learned from Howard, Thelma and Roland. They worked here through the 1990s while still in school, then came on full time. Both have taken active roles in growing the family business.
Armstrong Millworks
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2015
Remembering Howard
Howard W. Armstrong, May 19, 1924 to August 16, 2015. He is missed by his family and by the friends he'd see in the shop.
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2023
Seventy-five years
The family celebrated 75 years with an open house at the mill in July 2023, with engraved anniversary keepsakes.
Armstrong Millworks on Facebook, July 2023
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Today
Dennis and Adam
Today the shop is run by Dennis and Adam, carrying the family business into its fourth generation on the same land where it started. The molding library has grown to more than 2,000 profiles, with new ones added nearly every week.
The barn on the family farm, with its new roof.
In the news
From the family scrapbook
