As the oldest commercial printer in Magic Valley, we would like to tell you a little about Standard Printing, our people and our History.

It all began in the spring of 1918 with a gentleman named Wilbur Hill.  Wilbur was one of the movers and shakers of early day Twin Falls when Twin was a brand new town, then barely 12 years old, and growing by leeps and bounds.

Wilbur was one of the principals of the leading newspaper, The Twin Falls Times.  Seeing a need for a commercial printing shop in the valley, he rented a small office space at 137 Shoshone St North and launched his new business venture.  He named it Standard Printing Company and stressed that the name denoted a high standard of excellence in the printing industry.

The small printing company thrived and prospered as the new town grew.  Wilbur did a wide assortment of printing in the small shop.  Early day businesses needed handbills, letterheads, envelopes, business cards and a wide variety of other printed material.  All of the printing was done on hand fed presses using individual letters of hand set type.  Creativity was limited to using type, orniments and zinc engravings.  Most printing was done in black ink as prinitng in color meant washing up the press by hand.  Most printing in the early years was pretty utilitarian.  500 letterheads and 500 envelopes could be purchased for a whopping $12.50.

As more equipment was added and staff increased to meet the new challenges of the shop's growth, it was imperative that larger quarters were needed.

The brand new Elk's building was built on the corner of Second Avenue North and Shoshone Street.  This beautiful building not only housed the Elk's Fraternal Organization, but also had retail spaces for lease on the ground floor facing both Shoshone and Second Ave.

Wilbur immediately signed a lease and moved the shop into the new and larger quarters.  Standard Printing was now located at 122 Second Ave North.  Standard continued to grow and prosper in the following years under the capable leadership of Wilbur and his experienced production crew.

In 1949 Wilbur sold Standard Printing to Darrell & Inez Taylor.  Darrell had many years of experience in the printing trade and soon added additional staff and equipment to meet the printing needs of the rapidly growing city.  Darrell or " Red" as he was known to most people because of his flaming red hair, was a superb salesman.  He made sales calls all over the Magic Valley and not only expanded the printing business, but also provided many advertising specialty items.

May 15 1953 Standard Printing was leased from the Taylor's by James E "Jim" & James L. "Jim" Higgins.  For the next 3 years, the two Jims proceeded to grow the business.  In 1953 Standard was number 3 on the list of printers in the Magic Valley.  Over the next 10 years, Standard Printing became the lead shop in sales and customer satisfaction.

As business volume increased, the Higgins found it necessary to expand the size of the shop.  Over a 5 year period, the shop took  over the entire south side of the Elks ground floor.  During this expansion, lithographic printing equipment was added to further provide quality graphics and increase our production.

On May 31, 1967 Standard bought the building at 140 Second Ave North.  The building at that time housed a combination pool hall and bar/resturant called The Side Pocket.

The price of the building was $19,000.00.  For this money the Higgins became the proud owners of a 50 x 125 foot structure with only the front half having a concrete floor.  The entire back half of the building consisted of hard packed dirt!

This building, which was built in 1911, was the original Ford dealership in Twin Falls.  It was called Western Auto and operated until 1938 as the Ford dealership and as various car dealerships and auto repair shops.  The original 2 grease pits were still in the rear corners when Standard took possession of the building.  The building had various tentants from 1939 until 1967 including Detweilers Bros. a radio repair shop and Adrian's Magic Valley Furniture.  After extensive remodeling, Standard Printing moved into their new quarters in December 1967.

In September of 1997, Standard Printing was sold and J.L. "Jim" Higgins started a very happy retirement after 44 successful and enjoyable years in the printing business. 

Standard Printing is now owned by Tim and Camille Murphy.  Some of Jim's crew still work at Standard Printing Solutions.  After purchasing new state of the art imaging and mailing equipment, the company is continuing to be the standrd of excellence in fine printing.  In the years ahead, we will strive to carry on the tradition that was begun by Wilbur Hill in 1918.  He would be very proud to see how his little shop has grown and prospered to become the printing leader in Magic Valley.

We welcome you to come on by and let us give you a tour of our plant.  We are proud to have served you these past 90+ years.