Maple Landmark

What products are listed for this advertiser?

Made in the USA ABC Blocks, American Made Activity Books, Made in the USA Alphabet Trains, Made in America Animal Shapes, American Made Artisan ABC Blocks, Made in America Baby Wooden Toys, Made in the USA Backscratchers, Made in America Biplanes, American Made Birthday Cards, Made in the USA Bookends, American Made Brain Teasers, Made in the USA Building Blocks, Made in America Buildings, American Made Chatterblocks, Made in the USA Checkers, Made in America Chinese Checkers, Made in America Classic Trucks, American Made Coasters, Made in the USA Cribbage, Made in America Custom Products, Made in America Cutout Ornaments, Made in America Cutting Boards, American Made Danish Solitaires, Made in the USA Decorative Letter Blocks, Made in America Dominoes, Made in the USA Fire Truck Bookends, Made in America Fire Truck NameTrains, Made in the USA Fire Truck Scoots, Made in the USA Games, Made in America Growth Sticks, American Made Handpainted Magnets, American Made Handpainted Ornaments, Made in the USA Hang-A-Names, American Made Helicopters, Made in the USA Hobby Horses, Made in the USA Horse Nametrains, American Made Horses, Made in the USA Hybrid Cars, American Made Jigsaw Puzzles, American Made Kids Furniture & Decor, American Made Kits, Made in America Lacing Boards, American Made Laser Engraved Items, Made in America Letter Blcoks, American Made Letter Trains, Made in America Licensed products, Made in America Log Trucks, Made in America Made By Me, Made in America Magic Wands, Made in the USA Magnets, Made in the USA Mancala, Made in America Maple Ornaments, Made in America Marble Solitaire, American Made Memory Tiles, Made in America Mental Aerobics, Made in America Midget Railways, Made in America Mites, Made in America Mortorcycle Cribbage, Made in America Motorcycles, American Made My Trains, Made in the USA Name Train Car Sets, American Made Name Train Cars, Made in America Name Trains, Made in America Natural Products, American Made Nickels, Made in the USA Novelties, American Made Ornaments, Made in America Personalized Products, American Made Pillboxes, American Made Police Car Scoots, Made in the USA Pull Toys, Made in America Puzzles, Made in America Rattles, Made in America Recycling Trucks, Made in America Rocker-fellers, American Made Rocking Horses, Made in the USA Safari Train Sets, Made in the USA School Bus, Made in the USA School Bus NameTrain, American Made Schoolhouse Naturals, Made in the USA Schoolhouses, Made in America Scoots, Made in the USA Semi Trucks, Made in the USA Shape Sorters, American Made Shelves Name Trains, American Made Skyline Train Sets, Made in America Solaces, American Made Solitaire Games, Made in America Soma Cubes, Made in America Spinny Toys, Made in the USA Starter Train Sets, American Made Swords, Made in America Tangrams, Made in America Teach + Play Tiles, American Made Teethers, Made in the USA Tic-tac-toes, Made in the USA Timber Toots, American Made Tooth Fairy Box, Made in America Tops, Made in America Town Sets, Made in the USA Toy Fire Trucks, Made in America Train Ornaments, Made in America Train Sets, Made in the USA Train Shelves, Made in the USA Train Track Sets, Made in America Train Tracks, Made in the USA Train Whistles, Made in the USA Trivets, Made in the USA Trucks, Made in America Vermont Country Blocks, American Made Wall Mount Track Systems, Made in the USA Wall Racks, Made in the USA Wands, American Made Whistles, Made in America Wooden Trains, and Made in the USA Yo Yos / Yo-Yos / Yoyos.

Our area has a long history in the wood products industry. From the mills built by the early settlers to the furniture and novelty factories of the 1900's. It is only fitting that we combine history and local resources to continue the tradition.

Mike Rainville first came to woodworking as a hobby in the 1970's while he was in school. Working out of his parents' basement with scraps from his grandfather's carpentry projects, he duplicated household items, things like spool holders and cribbage boards. Before long friends and neighbors were asking Mike to make things and by 1979, he started selling wholesale. Local craft fairs also provided income and experience.

At age 15, getting lumber wasn't just a matter of borrowing a truck but a driver as well. At the time, the best selling items were cribbage and tic-tac-toe games.

first shop
The Lincoln, Vermont home of Maple Landmark, 1984-96
After graduating Clarkson University in 1984, Mike went to work constructing a new woodshop of ample size for his now full-time business, now known as Maple Landmark Woodcraft. The choice Maple Landmark as the name for the business was a natural extension of the name Mike's family used for their maple sugaring business and dairy farm, Maple Landmark Homestead. His grandfather, Fletcher Brown made maple syrup for over 65 years and was always available to lend a hand.

In 1987, Mike acquired the Troll's Toy Workshop, formerly of Barnet, VT. This addition brought in many products based on the alphabet including letter cars, blocks, and signage letters. The company quickly went from Mike plus some part-time help to several full-time employees.

The product line grew and evolved over the coming years, adding items like trivets, ornaments, and our first name trains. In 1993, after many requests from retailers, the NameTrain concept was spun off into a new line that was compatible with the many wooden track systems available. In 1994, NameTrains were introduced in colors and sales soared.

Growth from these new products had Mike's building bursting at the seams by late 1994. Being located in the mountains was certainly peaceful but impractical for conducting business. It was decided to move the business into the valley, to Middlebury, our county seat and population center. A new building was built and occupied in 1996. A store was included so people could stop by, see what we do, and buy items to take with them.

Our creative abilities increased in late 1996 when we introduced laser engraving and pad printing to our production processes. The ability to add graphic designs to our products has been central to our product development ever since. All of these products and processes had a hard time fitting in our building and it was enlarged in 1999 to 15,000 square feet.

In 2001, Montgomery Schoolhouse, another long established Vermont wooden toy company, became a part of Maple Landmark. Operations were consolidated in Middlebury. Click here for the Montgomery Schoolhouse story.

In the coming years we expanded our printing capabilities and extended our product line to over 1000 items. This left us ready when, after Chinese toy recalls of 2007, people became more interested in safe, American made toys. We also added our Schoolhouse Naturals line?toys for little ones without any chemical finishes or decorations.

Currently Maple Landmark employs about 40 people and sells product to over 2200 gift shops and toy stores throughout the country and abroad. We have become the pre-eminent wooden toy manufacturer in the United States.

We thrive on the feedback and ideas of our customers, so don't be afraid tell us what you want to see.

The following is a reply from Maple Landmark to our question – "Are your products Made in the USA?"

How do you know the products you have listed are Made in the USA?
Before including products in our database we review the advertiser’s website and/or contact them to ascertain the origin of their products. Some advertisers sell both Made in USA products and foreign ones. Therefore we highly recommend you review FAQ 2.

We immediately investigate any complaints regarding deceptive Country of Origin claims. If we determine an advertiser's claim is not truthful we will immediately remove the product/s from our database and suspend our relationship with the Company making the claim.

To document your complaint, email us by using our Contact Us page. We can only respond to complaints that have been submitted in writing.

What does Made in USA mean?
There is no law requiring most products to be labeled Made In USA, or have any other disclosure about the amount of U.S. content. However, for job creation purposes (see our Big Secret tab), if you have a choice between an imported product and one with no country of origin on its label, choose the product without a country of origin over the imported one. This is true because the product without the country origin on its label has at least some American labor in its content and the imported one most likely does not.

Note: Imported products are required by law to country of origin on their label and products partially Made In USA do not. To answer this question completely reviewing our Labeling Tips 1, 2 & 3. These tips are accessible from scrolling to the bottom of our home page clicking Browse All Tips button.