In September of 1986 Wally and Bob Wesp purchased a sawmill/dry kiln property on US Hwy 41 between Slinger and Allenton Wisconsin.  The buildings had been built in 1955 and the previous business had always served the wholesale market with native hardwoods from this area.  It had been idle for 5 years.

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The plan was to resume the previous type of operation, but a steady stream of visitors going by on the highway would stop and ask to buy a couple of boards of hardwood lumber.  This convinced them that a retail market existed for the product, and they built a store to accommodate the demand.  In 1989 Bob's brother Jim joined the operation after selling a different business he had started and run for 13 years.  After all, Wally had retired once after working for over 30 years with AT&T, but now he was working 50 hours a week just to keep up with the new company.  Wally continued to work on a variety of things including lots of construction projects, maintenance, computer programs and the original design of this website until he passed away in February of 2009.  In 2025, Bob was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and passed away in October.

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We are still very much a family business with Bob's brother Jim (who is mostly retired), 3 of Bob's sons - Sam, Michael, and Allen, a daughter-in-law Emma all involved.  We also have long term staff of more than 30 years each in Brian and Billy.  Frank has been with us for over 20 years, and some other shorter term employees rounding out the staff.  We know that our employees are the most important contributors to the success we have realized.  

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We came up with the name "Kettle Moraine Hardwoods" which was perfectly logical to us and everyone else in southeastern Wisconsin because we are in the middle of those glacial land formations.  We did not reckon with the fact that almost no one else in the country had ever heard of them.  After spelling the name out a few million times we are not going to change now.  If you are interested in kames, eskers, kettles, moraines and that sort of thing, click on www.kmoraine.com/interest.htm but be sure to come back here when you are through.

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Our purpose is to present a large and varied inventory which will meet the needs of our customers.  If you don't see what you want - ask us.  Our relatively small crew which is knowledgeable and interested will often find real prizes which in a larger operation would be lost.  When you visit our store be prepared to spend some time because we prefer that you pick your own wood from the bins with planing, ripping and sanding done while you wait.  You will never be rushed in wood selection (unless we are 5 minutes or so from closing time).  Small volumes are OK - one board or one thousand.  Clear short boards (less than 4 ft at #1 common price) are also available and often fit an individual's need.  Customer satisfaction is our main goal.