My brother and I own Maddox Industrial Transformer, a growing electrical-equipment company we founded in Clark County and is now headquartered here in Battle Ground.
I grew up in a small town in Texas, and at age 17, I began working in the electrical equipment industry. I worked for that company for 17 years (half my life) before it was sold to a corporate investment group. Shortly after the sale, the new leadership laid me off, rather unceremoniously, on a conference call.
With a young family to support, and my brother trying to save money to get married, Maddox started out of necessity at our house on 15th Street in Vancouver. Like many great startup stories, we shipped our first unit from our garage.
In a little more than a decade, we’ve grown into the leading supplier of American-made three-phase distribution transformers with locations around the country.
There are no other three-phase transformer manufacturers or remanufacturers in the Pacific Northwest. So after opening our first production facility in South Carolina, our decision to open our location here in Battle Ground was risky. But my commitment to being here was as much a part of my personal story as it was our business story.
In the beginning
Before I started Maddox, and before I fell in love with Battle Ground, nearly 20 years ago, I fell in love with a girl who grew up here in Clark County. After Sarah and I got married, we moved around the country with work for the first few years of our marriage. But shortly after our first two children were born, we knew it was time to put down roots and move home — to Battle Ground.
Today, our children are the sixth generation of our family to live here in Clark County. We’re here by choice, and we’re here to stay.
Why we love Battle Ground
Battle Ground is the kind of town people are proud to be from. There is a unique and admirable culture of the skilled trades here, where young people are taught practical know-how, integrity and work ethic.
Another unique strength of Battle Ground is its family-friendly way of life — from safe neighborhoods, to youth sports, school events, and park, church and community gatherings that make it easier for families to put down roots and feel connected.
Battle Ground also has a quiet confidence about what it is. It isn’t trying to become a small version of Portland or Vancouver, and it remains distinct even from neighboring towns. There’s a general sense that Battle Ground should stay true to its distinct heritage, family values and welcoming charm.
There’s a lot to build on here, and a lot of people to build alongside. That makes it a great place to raise a family and build a business.
I’ve been blessed to live the American dream. And as Maddox has prospered, it’s given me the opportunity to begin supporting a few additional locally-focused ventures, including a hospitality business and a small real-estate development company here in Battle Ground.
We’re not among Battle Ground’s largest property owners, but we’ve garnered some attention for buying, renovating and starting businesses in some highly visible properties on Main Street (including Al & Ernie’s and the Battle Ground Farmers Market). Given our relatively quiet nature, that has made some folks wonder what we’re up to. So, for anyone curious, I’d like to share how we think about investing in our hometown — and why.
My hope is that in telling our story, you’ll see where we’re coming from, and hopefully feel encouraged to join us in putting your resources behind local businesses.
Where are we investing in Battle Ground?
There’s a saying that you should “give where you live,” and we think that’s a good guide for charitable giving, as well as a great way to think about investing both your time and your money.
Sarah and I have decided to invest in Battle Ground for three reasons.
The first is that this is our home. And we hope to help make Battle Ground an even better place to live, work and raise a family.
We want to put our time and money to work in the place where we hope our kids and grandkids will build their lives. Rather than just putting our money into a portfolio of stocks, bonds and mutual funds, we’ve preferred investments that align with things that mattered more to us — and few things matter more to us than our hometown.
Secondly, investing in our hometown helps us retain great employees and leaders here at home, because strong local businesses and amenities make it easier for people to build their lives and careers in Battle Ground.
The third, and most personal, reason we choose to invest in Battle Ground is rooted in our faith. One of the most influential Bible verses in my life comes from the book of Jeremiah: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you.”
Whether or not you share our faith, our community is strengthened when we each, in our own ways, seek the peace and prosperity of the place we share.
For us, that place is Battle Ground.
How specifically are we investing in Battle Ground?
As we’ve reflected on our family’s priorities, and where we can best complement the other great things going on around town, we’ve settled on three priorities where we’re investing our time and resources:
• Creating more local jobs.
• Encouraging local entrepreneurship and local ownership of the businesses and places that serve community life.
• Supporting a more vibrant Old Town and Village.
Local jobs matter because when most livelihoods are tied to opportunities elsewhere, a community’s time, talent and economic activity flow outward instead of being reinvested in the town itself. Economic development studies show that roughly 80 to 90% of residents currently leave our town for work. Whether by directly creating jobs at our own businesses, or in advocating for business-friendly policies at the state, county and local levels, local jobs are one of our greatest priorities.
Local ownership matters because the character and future of a town are shaped most by the people who live and invest in it. Just as important, local ownership aligns incentives. Local owners naturally provide greater care for reputation, relationships and the long-term health of the community. Local ownership also preserves something less measurable, but even more valuable — local self-determination. Places remain distinct and rooted when local people build and sustain them. Otherwise, every town eventually looks and feels the same.
Lastly, a vibrant Old Town and Village matter because the heart of a town is expressed most visibly in its gathering places and shared spaces.
That’s why our family has invested in, for example, revitalizing our Main Street with small businesses like Al & Ernie’s Bakery Cafe and The Battle Ground Farmers Market, and why we’ve formed The Battle Ground Hospitality Collective, as a holding company for the restaurants and event-venue businesses we own and operate.
Before renovations, the Al & Ernie’s building was a liquor and convenience store with a “for sale” sign in the window. Rather than watch it fall into decline, my wife and I decided to buy it along with my brother, Mac Spiller, and his wife, Heidi. When Hockinson Cafe went out of business, I felt like we’d lost a local institution, and I knew we wanted to do something that opened early with a great breakfast.
The full vision for Al & Ernie’s Bakery Cafe emerged from conversations with Devin and Joylyn Bowen, friends of ours who are passionate about the highest-quality, made-fresh-daily baked goods and hospitality. I didn’t even realize this when we first started talking about working together, but (in case you didn’t know) Joylyn, our chief baker, is the granddaughter of Ernie Dunning, one of the original namesakes of Al & Ernie’s Foodliner, the local grocer operated by the Dunning family — in that exact same building — until the 1970s.
The next project we took on was the Battle Ground Farmers Market, revitalizing a shuttered warehouse formerly operated by Andersen Dairy. Sarah‘s granddad drove truck for the Andersen family in the 1960s, making its restoration a particularly personal project for our family.
Rather than watching those buildings be neglected, it brings us joy to join our neighbors getting their morning coffee and cinnamon rolls, and to see families gathering at the Saturday market.
When we’re dreaming up new ideas for businesses, we’re always looking for ways to support other local businesses, and to bring something to the mix that complements — rather than competes with — what the other local businesses are already doing well.
For example, we’ve already got a number of great antique, arts, crafts and home decor shops, as well as a local grocer, Battle Ground Produce on Main Street. So we decided to make the Farmers Market about prioritizing family farms and connecting people with local food and doing so in an event-like atmosphere that gives priority to vendors that wouldn’t really work in the traditional grocery store model.
Consistent with our desire to support local entrepreneurship, another aspect of the Farmers Market is that it serves as a retail sales venue for over 60 independent, local, small (sometimes micro) businesses. We hope that some of these small producers will grow to the point where they will want to have their own brick-and-mortar shops on Main Street someday.
After launching Al & Ernie’s and the Farmers Market, a few property owners approached us about continuing their business or acquiring their properties, including the Maze family, who approached us about buying Tukes Taphouse. They’ve built a great local business, and we’re excited to build on and continue what they’ve started.
We’ve turned down more acquisition opportunities than we’ve pursued, but recently, when the owner of Main Street Bar decided to close, we were grateful to be among the first their realtor contacted, knowing our interest in restoring historic local properties.
Our redevelopment plans for that property are not yet solidified, but we’re looking forward to bringing new life to Main Street’s original theater building.
Over in Battle Ground Village, we bought some land several years ago and have begun to develop part of it as an event center to host a variety of community events, with an adjacent chapel building that will be the new home of First Presbyterian Church. We hope the remainder of that land will support additional commercial and job-creating uses, continuing the mixed-use, walkable village vision already taking shape there.
Some of the properties we’re developing (or redeveloping) we intend to hold for the long-term, and some we’ll use in our own entrepreneurial efforts, some will be available for lease, and some we’d be very happy to sell.
As locally-minded entrepreneurs, we regularly have conversations with owners who are thinking about transitioning their properties or businesses. We are open to those discussions when we feel like it can align with our strengths and investment priorities, and particularly when it can bring community significant assets back into local hands. But the reality is that our time and resources are very limited, so part of the reason I’m sharing our story is in the hopes of encouraging others to invest locally as well.
Battle Ground does not become stronger because of any single project or investor. We know we’re just one among many in Battle Ground’s ongoing story who care deeply about this place and are working to make it an even better place to live, work and raise a family.
Battle Ground is still young — only celebrating its 75th birthday this year. In the years ahead its strength will continue to come from the many people — newcomers and long-timers alike — who love this place, put down roots, and build together.
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Camden Spiller is the CEO of Maddox Industrial Transformer (maddox.com) and The Battle Ground Hospitality Collective (bghospitality.org)
