A short history of Shipman Print Solutions

       The man in the center of the photo at right is Jacob Wahl, who, along with his two partners (whose

names are lost to antiquity), set up shop as the Wahl Printing & Binding Company in downtown Niagara

Falls, NY. The year was 1905, and, armed with a formidable arsenal of two hand-fed presses, fifty fonts,

a few hundred sheets of paper and a bicycle for transportation between sales calls, Jacob’s company thrived and grew for some 60 years.

In 1966, a young Frank Shipman, at the encouragement of his father Everett, moved from Ohio and joined

rival firm Byron Human Printing Company, where he set himself to learning all aspects of that business while

earning $125 a week. Two years later the Shipmans bought the Wahl Printing Company and changed the

name to Human Wahl Printing before adding the Shipman Envelope Co. in 1981 to expand its market to

independent distributors. Further expansion in 1984 added cut sheets, more envelope sizes and commercial print capabilities, all under the  new title Shipman Printing Industries, which was now located on Niagara Falls Boulevard.

       In 1999, nearing retirement and hoping to pass along his company to someone of like mind who

would keep the business family-run and local, Frank found sharp local entrepreneur and multi-business

owner Gary Blum, who bought the company in 2000.

       In keeping with Frank Shipman’s original vision, Gary has kept the company a solid fixture in

Western New York, and has continued to invest in the company’s growth. After many more
upgrades, equipment acquisitions, refinements and expansions, the company was renamed

Shipman Print Solutions and moved to its current location on Lendell Road in Sanborn, N.Y., the
new building boasting more than double the area of the previous facility.