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DOUGLAS MODELS BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
Company founder Jack H. Douglas (b.1915), spent years selling
balsa wood and tissue paper flying aircraft models from under his bed, until he
had scraped together enough money to open his first store (18 x 20 feet) --
Douglas Model Aircraft -- at 105 East 200 South in Salt
Lake City on November 15, 1934. Here he began manufacturing
his own flying model kits (you could count the number of national manufacturers
on less than one hand!). Yet He still found time to serve as a brakeman for the
Rio Grande Railroad line, just like his father, who was a conductor.
On August 10, 1941, he moved to a larger shop (30 x 80 feet) with
a full basement at 123 East 200 South.Using half the basement, he set up the
first large model railroad loop (20 x 50 feet).A year later he moved the store
to 133 East 200 South.
Government rationing during World War II cutoff the supply of
metal for model railroad rails and model airplane gas engines as well as that
of balsa wood for modeling. As a substitute, modelers used pine and
redwood.Early in the war, Jack served as an aviation ground school instructor
to US Army Air Corps students at the University of Utah.His new wife, the
former Fern Richardson of West Jordan, Utah, watched over the business while he
was instructing as well as when Jack went off to serve in Marine Corps
Aviation.Not to be outdone, Fern trained as a ¡°Women¡¯s Air
Force Service Pilot¡± in the US Army Air
Corps during the final year of the war.
On November 12, 1945,Jack returned to open his first wholesale
outlet -- Douglas Model Distributors -- adjacent to
his retail operation.In 1949, the first plastic model kits were introduced,
revolutionizing model building with their ease of construction and detail. In
1956, Jack rented the old O.P. Skaggs Grocery Store at 122 East 200
South. Here he set up a model train set assembly line for his close
friend, Irv Athearn, at one point employing as many as 200 workers.
In 1957, Jack combined location for both the Douglas Models
retail store and wholesale warehouse, and operated here until July 1, 1983.
Jack established a 2500 sq. ft., wholesale branch of the company
at 12th and Welton in Denver, Colorado, on August 17, 1952. Almost
immediately it proved to be too small for the amount of business he was getting
on the east side of the Rockies. So he built a new 6000 sq. ft. warehouse
at 1075 South Fox Street, opening July 1, 1958. Seven years later on June
16, 1965 it was destroyed, washed away by a huge wall of water when the South
Platte River flooded the city,
Jack rebuilt the Denver operation (on higher ground) at 130 Lipan
Street, where it operated continuously until February 15, 2000, when operation
was consolidated with the SaltLakeHQ location.
As downtown SaltLake grew, high-rise office buildings displaced
smaller, family-businesses to the suburbs.Jack built a new retail/wholesale
warehouse at 2065 East 3300 South, opening August 1, 1983.He subsequently
passed away in late July 1999.
In 2004 the Douglas family sold its share of the business to
Douglas Models Distributors LLC and so ends a decade of Douglas owned business
and a new family takes over the task of moving to the next decade with the same
passion and dedication that defined Jack Douglas and Douglas Models.
In early 2004 our retail store was moved to a new 3,000-sqft
location. At 7700 S Redwood Rd, West JordanUT84084
And at the same time our rapidly growing wholesale distributing
operation has moved to a its new 20,000-sqft warehouse located on
8385 South Allen Street, Suite 138, in West Jordan, Utah84070.
Our new website, www.douglasmodels.com,
is a full service tool that provides not only real time inventory and an
ordering system, but also quality information that will help you keep up with
industry trends and restock your store with new and exciting products.
As we approach three quarters of a century in
the hobby business, our company continues to evolve and create new tools and
services for our customers, while keeping up with traditional, personal
customer service and insuring that both you and we are looking forward to work
every day, knowing that we are working in the best and most exciting industry
on this planet and that we will continue to make significant innovations and
contribute to the growth and prosperity of the hobby industry.
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