Waldwick Printing Company was founded in 1954 by partners Jim Retherford and Bill Cook. Back then, Waldwick was still a small railroad town, inhabited by many railroad workers and their families. The old shop, down on Hewson Ave, was located right near the tracks. On their lunch hours, Bill and Jim would wave at the hobos as they would roll by in their boxcars. One evening while watching a train full of new cars roll by on its way from Detroit, Bill and his neighbor, Mr. Holley, spotted a hobo behind the driver’s seat in a brand new car reading the paper with the dome light on.
In 1956, during a particularly bad ice storm, Jim, a Florida native, came to the realization that he didn’t have to stay here and deal with these winters if he didn’t want to. A short time later, he packed his bags and went back to his home state. Bill took over the business in October of 1957.
Waldwick Printing has been a family business ever since. In the early days, the presses were all iron, and the type was all lead. They were busy printing local town directories as well as the usual assortment of business and personal job printing. Waldwick Printing built a new building and moved into its current location in 1969.
Over the years, Waldwick Printing has made the transition from letterpress, to single color offset, to multicolor offset lithography and then into the digital age, all the while staying on the cutting edge but still maintaining and cultivating our fine letterpress capabilities. We have made many transitions over the years, but never have we transitioned into a low quality, high speed quicky shop. For over 55 years, our work has remained of the highest quality because of our attention to detail and meticulous workmanship.