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The origin of Ware-Butler was the result of an economic downturn in the 1920s. John Ware and Perley G. Butler were partners in a logging operation in the Jackman area, wholesaling lumber to buyers in the Boston and Connecticut markets. In 1923-24, a recession prevented them from shipping lumber by train to those areas. As a result, the two men were forced to stockpile cut lumber at a site they owned on North Street in Waterville - the same site now occupied by Ware-Butler's headquarters store. It was in Waterville that Ware and Butler incorporated their business and began retailing building materials. The two men showed their ability to survive and prosper despite the vagaries of the economy right from the start. That ability to change with the times has characterized Ware-Butler ever since.