Maple Landmark

What products are listed for this advertiser?

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

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.