Ironically, Mr. Philip Buebke and his employees at Columbia Wire & Iron Works were lending truth to that statement years before Eliot wrote the words. With a handful of the best ironworkers he could find, and a contract from the City of Portland to make curb angles for the city streets, Buebke founded his company in 1902. The ironworkers in those days were craftsmen who learned their skills from fathers and grandfathers. They were artisans who made ornamental iron railing, window guards, elevator cages, and so on; and after that first contract with the city, these were the products that launched Columbia Wire & Iron Works into the fabrication industry.

When WWI came along, the ornamental ironwork gave way to the production of iron and steel fitting for the wooden ships being built in the Portland shipyards. With the end of the war there was a return to ornamental grating and related products.

But it was also at this time that Columbia Wire & Iron Works started fabricating sidewalk doors for freight elevators and fire escapes for most of the buildings in the rapidly growing downtown Portland area. This is the work which started CWI's increasing involvement with the construction industry. The integrity of the Company and the quality of its products were well established by the time the country was hit with the Great Depression. With this solid reputation to sustain it, the Company remained in business fabricating everything from jail cells to hop hooks for the hop farmers in the Willamette Valley.

During WWII, Columbia Wire & Iron Works made its contribution to the war effort by fabricating ship ladders, winch bases, binnacle supports, and refrigeration compartments for the booming ship building industry in Portland. When the war ended, the Company evolved into a supplier of fabricated structural and miscellaneous steel for the construction industry. CWI's first project of this kind was back in 1914 with the downtown Meier & Frank building.

In 1980 the rich heritage of family ownership continued when the Company was purchased by Bob Park. Bob ran the day-to-day operations for 27 years during which time CWI built a national reputation for building the "unbuildable" within restrictive timeframes. In 2007 Bob turned over the operations of the Company to his son Drew who has been involved in virtually every aspect of the business and is committed to running the business in the tradition established by the artisans of 1902, building some of the most complex and noteworthy landmarks anywhere. The growing list of CWI achievements, including the Oregon Historical Society, several U. S. National Bank buildings and more recently, the Cowlitz Fall Dam project, Pacific Gas Tower, Physician's Pavilion at OHSU, Intel D1B FAB Facility, FAB II of Wacker Siltronics, Fujitsu Microelectronics Plant, EMP, Milwaukee Art Museum and many others.