Search results
May 7, 2018 · Though its booming beer tourism trade has led Grand Rapids to claim the new nickname of Beer City, for the longest time, it was known to many as Furniture City. At its height, it was home to more than 40 furniture companies and had a global reputation for manufacturing and selling fine wood furniture.
Furniture City History. Do you have mahogany furniture in your home? Perhaps you can help us identify manufacturers. Curious? Find out more. . . An engaging exploration of the industry that gave Grand Rapids its nickname.
Mar 2, 2023 · GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On the second floor of the Grand Rapids Community Archive and Research Center are thousands of objects: desks, chairs, bed frames, stadium seats — even a trash can.
- Max Goldwasser
- Multi-Media Journalist
- Max.Goldwasser@Fox17online.com
- Origin
- Trademarking “Grand Rapids”
- Notable Names
- Striking Trouble
- Legacy
All the way back in 1836, a man named William Haldene traveled from Ohio to Grand Rapids and opened one of the first furniture shops in the city, specializing in cabinets, but he also made chairs, beds, coffins, and tables. The picture below is of a 1840 hoop back armchair accredited to Haldene. The chair currently resides in the Grand Rapids Publi...
In 1902, furniture companies in Grand Rapids began using the name Grand Rapids itself as a trademark, to establish that their furniture was the from the Furniture City, rather than somewhere else. From the newspaper The Evening Pressin 1902, this was said of the trademark, “[it] is primarily a protection against inferior furniture which may bear so...
Ebenezer M. Ball provides us with a close-up look at the furniture industry in Grand Rapids in the 1800s. He teamed up with William Powers and had a very successful company at the time. In one of his letters home he writes, “I expect to be very much drove with business this summer and almost dread the accumulation of labor and care that the steam m...
Things weren’t always easy in The Furniture City. In 1911, employees from many of the furniture, sawmill, and woodworking machinery companies in Grand Rapids walked off the job, striking for better wages and hours. The strike lasted four months, leaving the city at a standstill. After much turmoil, the strikers received what they wanted. This strik...
Grand Rapids has always been known for it’s fine furniture, and in 1876 Grand Rapids was recognized for being the leading furniture manufacturer in the world, and to this day it is still the leading manufacturer of office furniture worldwide. The Grand Rapids Furniture Association created in 1881 was made for purpose of protecting furniture manufac...
Jul 24, 2022 · GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Rapids is known as Furniture City, but the industry’s impact stretched far across West Michigan. But in 1883, one of the natural sources of the thriving...
- Matt Jaworowski
Mar 3, 2023 · William Haldane, the so-called "Father of the Furniture Industry," settled in Grand Rapids in 1836 — 14 years before it became an official city. In this video, FOX 17's Max Goldwasser digs...
- 6 min
- 1974
- FOX 17 WXMI
Feb 14, 2012 · The museum's Furniture City exhibit more completely explores the history of furniture manufacturing in western Michigan and includes more than 120 pieces of Grand Rapids-made furniture, plus re-creations of an early furniture factory and a 1920s-era showroom at the city's Furniture Market.
People also ask
Is Grand Rapids a furniture city?
Where can I buy furniture in Grand Rapids Michigan?
Who started the furniture industry in Grand Rapids?
What is the furniture industry of Grand Rapids?
