Southern Door & Plywood History
In 1952 Southern Door & Plywood was started as a Sole Proprietorship by Harry Jefferson Jones, Sr. in Stockbridge, Georgia. His son John S. Jones, Sr. operated and managed the company along with his father. They mainly sold lumber and plywood. In 1954 they moved the business to Atlanta, Georgia. At this time they added a cabinet shop and did mill work for large commercial buildings.
Southern Door became incorporated in 1958. They added Commercial Wood Doors and Hardware. In 1959 Harry J Jones, Jr. became an employee of Southern Door & Plywood and was hired to be an outside salesman to promote growth. Both Harry J. Jones, Jr. and John S. Jones, Sr.'s spouses worked along with them to build the company that Southern Door & Plywood is today.
Harry J. Jones, Jr. retired in 1987 and three children of John S. Jones, Sr.: Johnny Jones, Candy Rath and Dee Hendricks, who were all employed by Southern Door & Plywood soon acquired the company.
Southern Door has grown into a well know and established business that has a great reputation and has been part of almost every construction of office buildings, schools, hospitals and many other venues throughout the Southeast. Being located in Atlanta has made our business grow in the Southeast but we have always gone to whichever state our business takes us.
In 1983 John S. Jones, Sr. retired leaving his portion of the company to his spouse Joanne B. Jones. Joanne B. Jones was more than capable of running the company with their three children. 1994 Southern Door became a Women Owned Business in the state of Georgia.
In 1997 John S. Jones, Sr. and Joanne B. Jones turned the company over to their children. By this time, they had all participated in the growth of Southern Door & Plywood. Their mother, Joanne Jones would continue to work at Southern Door and John S. Jones, Sr. would remain as Chairman of the Board. During the time that the children came to work at Southern Door & Plywood, Inc., their spouses have also been working with them and employed at Southern Door. They have an outstanding group of employees that have worked with owners for the past 20 to 25 years. They have built a reputation as a family owned business that is reliable and dedicated to their employees and most importantly, their customers.