In the aftermath of World War Two, the United States stood alone as the industrial giant of the world. The aluminum industry had exploded during the war years as the nation consumed all the aluminum it could produce for the war effort. Companies such as Alcoa, Reynolds, and Kaiser had built huge facilities that suddenly needed new products. There was a shortage of housing and the materials to build those houses. Within a few years, the aluminum siding industry was born.[1]
Our family business, Spokane Valley Insulation and Roofing and my family would forever be impacted by this new industry. The family had operated a grocery store on Garland Avenue and a roofing and siding contracting firm on East Sprague Avenue throughout the Depression and the war years. The McVay Brothers, Harry, Warren, Julian, and Addison started selling aluminum products, including aluminum siding by the early 1950s. IT was a modern newly invented product that promised to “never need painting.”[2]
Soon, Addison had founded the Bon Homie Supply, while Harry and Warren had changed the original company’s name to McVay Brothers Contractors, Inc. Bon Homie Supply manufactured Kool Breeze Awnings while McVay Brothers focused on installing Alside Aluminum Siding.[3] Soon, the brothers founded Northwest Siding Wholesalers, distributing Alsco Aluminum Siding throughout the Inland Northwest. The family sold the grocery store and focused entirely on home improvements.
As housing and home improvements boomed, so did the brothers’ new ventures. The Brothers sold their products far and wide directly or through a base of similar dealers who purchased through the Northwest Siding Wholesalers arm of the venture.
The brothers relied on professional canvassing crews just as it had through the 1930s and 40s, but as the 1950s gave way to the 1960s, the brothers turned their attention to print and television advertising. Soon print ads were peppering the Spokesman-Review and Spokane Chronicle. By 1969, Harry and Warren were featured in a series of television and print ads that portrayed the two siding salesmen jokingly as celebrities willing to actually visit you in your own home top give you a free estimate. They even offered to meet you in Honolulu “by appointment.”
Although Bon Homie Supply eventually closed and Northwest Siding Wholesalers was sold, McVay Brothers continues to operate to this day offering vinyl, steel and fiber cement siding as well as roofing and windows for installation. [4] The children of Harry, Warren, Julian, and Addison spawned dozens of businesses in the home improvement industry and others including a real estate firm, and A & W Root Beer franchise, a modeling agency and others. They owe some of this entrepreneurial spirit in part to the miracle of aluminum siding and other building products.
[1] John Lauber. “And It Never Needs Painting: The Development of Residential Aluminum Siding.” APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology 31, no. 2/3 (2000): 17–2
[2] Ibid.
[3] "Firms Founded as Year Begins." The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), July 4, 1956.
[4] Tom Lutey. "Harry McVay Was Forever a Salesman." The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), April 29, 2006.
Bibliography:
“Aggressive Canvassers.” Advertisement. The Spokesman-Review. March 22, 1957. P. 17. 22 Mar 1957, 17 - The Spokesman-Review at The Spokesman-Review (newspapers.com)
“Care Free Kool Breeze Awnings.” Advertisement. The Spokesman-Review. May 29, 1958. P. 14. 29 May 1958, 14 - The Spokesman-Review at The Spokesman-Review (newspapers.com)
“Complete Alsco Tedlar Aluminum Siding Installation For Your Home” April 4, 1966. P. 5. 04 Apr 1966, 5 - The Spokesman-Review at The Spokesman-Review (newspapers.com)
“Experienced Solicitors Wanted.” The Spokesman-Review. March 7, 1955. P. 24.
“Firm is named as distributor.” Spokane Chronicle. April 13, 1964. 13 Apr 1964, 17 - Spokane Chronicle at The Spokesman-Review (newspapers.com)
"Firms Founded as Year Begins." The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), July 4, 1956. https://spokesman.newspapers.com/image/564425134/?terms=mcVay%20Brothers&match=1
Lauber, John. “And It Never Needs Painting: The Development of Residential Aluminum Siding.” APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology 31, no. 2/3 (2000): 17–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/1504656.
Lutey, Tom. "Harry McVay Was Forever a Salesman." The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), April 29, 2006. https://spokesman.newspapers.com/image/578229113/?terms=Harry%20McVay&match=1
"Warren McVay Obituary." The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), April 22, 2009. https://spokesman.newspapers.com/image/578229113/?terms=Harry%20McVay&match=1.
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