History

Mike Rainville first came to woodworking

Woodworking

Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...

 as a hobby in the 1970s while he was in school. Working out of his parent's basement

Basement

__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...

 with scraps from his grandfather's carpentry projects, he duplicated household items such as spool holders and cribbage

Cribbage

Cribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points...

 boards. Before long, friends and neighbors were asking Mike to make things and by 1979, his first wholesale relationship started. Local craft fairs also provided income and experience.

After graduating from Clarkson University

Clarkson University

-The Clarkson School:The Clarkson School, a special division of Clarkson University, was founded in 1978 as a unique educational opportunity. The School offers students an early entrance opportunity into college, replacing the typical senior year of high school with a year of college...

 in 1984, Mike went to work constructing a new woodshop of ample size for his now full-time business, now known as Maple Landmark Woodcraft. The choice "Maple Landmark" as the name for the business was a natural extension of the name Mike's family used for their maple sugaring business and dairy farm, Maple Landmark Homestead.

In 1987, Mike acquired the Troll's Toy Workshop, formerly of Barnet, Vermont

Barnet, Vermont

Barnet is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,690 at the 2000 census. Barnet contains the locations of Barnet Center, East Barnet, McIndoe Falls, Mosquitoville, Passumpsic and West Barnet.-Geography:...

. This addition brought in many alphabet

Alphabet

An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...

-themed products, including letter cars, blocks, and signage letters. The company quickly grew to warrant full-time employees.

The product line evolved over the coming years, adding items such as trivet

Trivet

A trivet is an object placed between a serving dish or bowl, and a dining table, usually to protect the table from heat damage.Trivet also refers to a tripod used to elevate pots from the coals of an open fire...

s, ornaments, and the first name trains. In 1993, after many requests from retailers, the NameTrain concept was spun off into a new line that was compatible with the many wooden track systems

Wooden toy train

Wooden toy trains are toy trains that run on a wooden track system with grooves to guide the wheels of the rolling stock. While the trains, tracks and scenery accessories are made mainly of wood, the engines and cars connect to each other using metal hooks or small magnets, and some use plastic...

 available. In 1994, NameTrains were introduced in various colors, and sales soared as a result.

Production of these new products had outgrown existing facilities by late 1994. It was decided to move the business to Middlebury in 1996.

Laser engraving

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

 and pad printing

Pad printing

Pad printing is a printing process that can transfer a 2-D image onto a 3-D object. This is accomplished using an indirect offset printing process that involves an image being transferred from the cliché via a silicone pad onto a substrate...

was introduced to the production process. The ability to add graphic designs to products has been central to the product development ever since. All of these products and processes required the enlargement of the factory to 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) in 1999.

In 2001, Montgomery Schoolhouse, another long established Vermont-based producer of wooden toys, joined the Maple Landmark family, and all operations were consolidated in Middlebury.

Currently Maple Landmark employs about 30 people and sells products to over 2200 gift shops and toy stores throughout the country and abroad.