Few businesses last more than 120 years. Fewer still do it in an industry many have declared dead.
Lane Press, the magazine and catalog printing press in South Burlington, has managed to defy the odds. Inside the company’s 200,000-square-foot building, three massive printing presses — the backbone of the operation — churn out millions of pages each hour. They are folded, stitched and mailed as alumni magazines, trade journals and regional guides bound for mailboxes across the country.
It’s a far cry from Lane Press’ modest beginnings. Frank Lane founded the company in 1904 on the top floor of a building near City Hall Park in downtown Burlington. In the 1950s, Oscar Drumheller, a senior manager at the time, took over. His family still owns the operation.
The majority of the company’s clients today are colleges and universities, including the University of Vermont, Saint Michael’s College and Middlebury College, though its reach extends nationwide. The regional magazine Vermont Life was printed there, too, until it ceased publication in 2018.
More than a century in business has brought challenges. The company now employs around 90 people, down from more than 300 two decades ago, as automation reshaped work and the magazine industry contracted. Rising paper and postage costs have also squeezed margins.
Still, the company’s reputation for quality products and customer service has helped it endure, according to Gregg Spiro, president of Lane Press. Matching the right ink to the 170 paper varieties that the company uses is both an art and science and leads to the best result for each job, he said.
Despite the industry headwinds, Spiro has gotten a sense in recent years that people are seeking the tactile experiences of reading books and magazines, instead of consuming everything on screens.
“The world of print feels like it’s having a rebound,” Spiro said.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Pressing On”
This article appears in The Media Issue • 2026.
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