Tomlinson Exterminating Service, Inc., located on Main Street in Gloucester, is celebrating an anniversary. The firm has offered termite and pest control services to the Middle Peninsula for 45 years.

The service area has expanded to include customers on the Peninsula and Northern Neck. Tomlinson now has seven full-time employees and occasionally hires more.

Chris Tomlinson started the business, offering termite control from a 25-gallon drum mounted on his Pontiac, said his sons, Michael C. and Jeffrey Tomlinson, both of Gloucester, who now manage the business. Chris and his wife, Charlotte, the long-time office manager for the business, still own the business but are retired.

The business has evolved through the years, Jeffrey said, to include six service vehicles to offer more environmentally sensitive products that are safer for humans, pets and the environment. They offer the Sentricon termite colony elimination system, which has its active ingredient in bait and has no label re...