THE GRAND RAPIDS FURNITURE INDUSTRY

Source:  Photograph by Randy Schaetzl, Professor of Geography - Michigan State University

Ample waterpower generated by the 18-foot fall of the Grand River at Grand Rapids, and the availability of valuable lumber from nearby pine and hardwood forests, resulted in the establishment of a number of sawmills and woodworking (especially furniture-making) industries in Grand Rapids.  Following the display of Grand Rapids furniture at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, the city gained a reputation as the furniture capital of America. Buyers the world over went to its furniture markets, first held in 1878. The diversification of its industry began with the advent of World War I, and metal-based manufacturing industries thereafter exceeded furniture in value and output. Nevertheless, Grand Rapids furniture produced by its skilled craftsmen has maintained its eminence in quality, style, and design. 

Grand Rapids has become Michigan's second largest city and is the principal trading centre of western Michigan, including a large area devoted to fruit farming and truck gardening.

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In 1826, Grand Rapids was a frontier trading post that gradually grew into a village where merchants could trade goods for farm products, furs, and salts. By the late 1840s Grand Rapids was ready to support the furniture industry. Michigan was a place ready for the lumber industry and Grand Rapids was a city in the right location. Forests were disappearing from the East where sawmills had been supplying lumber to more homes and factories. Forests in Michigan became the target for the next supply of lumber. Immigrants had been moving West in the great migration and when they decided to stay they became an important part of the labor force.
    Combined with all this was the Grand River. It was a gateway to the West. Investors saw the potential the river had for supplying power for machinery and transportation to the frontier markets. The settlers who spread across the continent became consumers of the furniture and were the perfect market.
    The men and women who migrated to Grand Rapids were willing to take risks. They became the inventors, investors, owners, salesmen, and the labor force of the new furniture industry. Other settlers developed the roads, bridges, canals, railroads, while others cleared the land for factories and homes. They each helped create a city where the furniture industry could prosper.


    The first factories were located near the Grand River where there was water transportation and power. When steam engines replaced water power in the 1860s and 1870s, factories were able to move away from the riverfront and move close to railroad tracks for faster transportation by train. A system of cities defined the landscape of early Grand Rapids. Mill buildings could be seen from almost every direction one looked. Wooden structures were replaced by red and yellow bricks with large smokestacks.
    The city of Grand Rapids functioned around the factories located downtown along the river or railroad tracks. The workers lived within walking distance of the factories or near streetcar lines. The owners did not live near the factories like many of the workers, they chose to live in larger homes high on the bluffs above downtown in what is now called, "Heritage Hill." Many neighborhoods and buildings in Grand Rapids still look as they do because of the furniture industry.

    American Seating Company, once known as the Grand Rapids School Furniture Company (in 1886), is located in the same neighborhood today. The company still employs many people and is right next to the train tracks, not too far away from the Grand River.

Source:  Photograph by Randy Schaetzl, Professor of Geography - Michigan State University

The John Widdicomb Company was established in 1865 and is still located in the same neighborhood as American Seating in NW Grand Rapids. The railroad tracks are right in front of the building where they still build furniture and the Grand River is only a short walk away.  Many of the settlers who worked at John Widdicomb Company and American Seating were Polish immigrants. The church near the two factories, St. Adalbert’s Roman Catholic Church was built for these settlers. The church is still there today and seen from John Widdicomb Company loading dock (see below).

Source:  Photograph by Randy Schaetzl, Professor of Geography - Michigan State University

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Grand Rapids still makes a lot of furniture today, but it is no longer the furniture capital of the world, like it once was.

Grand Rapids was once known for the residential furniture they once produced. Some companies like John Widdicomb still occupy the same factory building and use old machinery and equipment to make traditional products like sofas, tables, and chairs.  Some of the wood carvings that adorn the US Supreme Court came form the John Widdicomb factory.

Source:  Photograph by Randy Schaetzl, Professor of Geography - Michigan State University

American Seating is still in the same neighborhood, but went from producing school desks, church pews, and opera or theater seats to producing stadium and theater products and transportation products like bus seats which the company has become well known for. Some chairs in elementary schools today still have the American Seating mark, but now you are more likely to see their products in stadiums and on buses around the country.




The three "placemat" maps (above) were produced by the Michigan Geographic Alliance and the Science/Mathematics/Technology Center, Central Michigan University, with funding from the U.S. Dept. of Education. For further information email Wayne.E.Kiefer@cmich.edu

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Some of the text on this page has been paraphrased from bitannica.com, and the Public Museum of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Furniture : The story of America’s Furniture City by Christian G. Carron, 1998.

This material has been compiled for educational use only, and may not be reproduced without permission.  One copy may be printed for personal use.  Please contact Randall Schaetzl (soils@msu.edu) for more information or permissions.