After nearly 90 years in business, the Baldwin City Lumber Co. will close its doors in October.

The business, which has been a landmark in Baldwin’s downtown since 1914, has started its liquidation sale.

Owner Michael Swan said he’s not sure when the store’s last day of operation will be. He suspects most of the merchandise, which he’s selling at reduced prices, will be gone by the end of October.

Swan said the store is simply the latest small-town lumberyard to fall victim to stiffer competition from home improvement superstores and regionally owned contractor supply houses. Since Swan’s family bought the store in 1960, he has seen locally owned lumberyards close in Eudora, Wellsville, Ottawa, Overbrook and Lawrence.

“Look at Lawrence. It has completely changed,” Swan said. “We had 84 Lumber and it closed. We had Lawrence Lumber and it’s gone and, of course, Payless is gone. We have been able to keep our customers because they’re very loyal and they like the service, but we haven’t been able to add very many new ones.

“And unfortunately our expenses have gone up and we have loans to pay. We had short-term loans that turned into long-term loans, and we just felt like we were never going to get them paid off if we didn’t close and liquidate.”

The business suffered despite an increase in commercial and residential construction in the area, Swan said.

“A lot of the building that has been going on over the past few years has been by out-of-town developers, and they bring in their own people and their own suppliers,” Swan said. “As far as supporting a locally owned business, they’re just not community-minded because they’re not from the community.”

Many of the town’s residents said they were sad to see the business, which has three employees, close. The closing will leave the town of about 3,500 residents without a lumberyard.

“We’re getting a lot of support from the community,” Swan said. “A lot of people say they wish it didn’t have to happen. They’re wondering how far they’re going to have to drive to get what they want.”

The company operates out of two buildings in downtown, with its main offices at 718 High St. and a storage yard southwest of the intersection of Eighth and High streets. Both pieces of real estate are owned by Baldwin State Bank.

Bank President Carl Butell said the bank plans to raze the old metal buildings at the storage yard but has no specific plans for redeveloping either piece of property. It might be difficult to find a tenant for the company’s main brick building, which was built in 1914 as the Ives-Hartley Lumber Co., he said.

“It is a specialized building,” Butell said. “It was built to be a lumberyard, but it is probably not modern enough for a lumberyard today. It will be a bit hard to adapt to other uses.”

Swan bought the business from his father, Tom, in 1988. Tom Swan, a longtime Baldwin city council member, bought the business from the Hartley family in 1960.

Michael Swan attributed much of Baldwin City Lumber Co.’s success to his father’s efforts.

“He was a well-loved man here,” Swan said of his father, who died in 1995.

Swan doesn’t have any specific plans for his future but said he may try to stay in the lumberyard industry.

“I have mixed emotions about it (the closing),” Swan said. “In some ways I’m glad because it has been such a struggle, but I’ve always enjoyed working with the people of Baldwin City. I think it’s a shame for the city.”