West Michigan Furniture Company Building
N 42° 47.419 W 086° 06.967
16T E 572288 N 4737909
The West Michigan Furniture Company was the first large-scale furniture manufacturer in Holland, and the plant was the first local factory with electric lights.
Waymark Code: WM12E6
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 12/25/2006
Views: 127
The West Michigan Furniture Company was the first large-scale furniture manufacturer in Holland, and the plant was the first local factory with electric lights. This enabled workers to adhere to a ten-hour work day. During the 1890s, a period of national recession, the company employed 20 percent of Holland's work force, even through the worst economic troubles. In 1899 employment peaked at 635 people. This office is the only structure remaining of the manufacturing complex.
In 1889 Frank W. Hadded, George P. Hummer, and Frank Metz founded the West Michigan Furniture Company in Holland. The company produced only bedroom and dining room furniture, which was sold by a twenty-five-member sales force throughout the U.S. and parts of Canada and Mexico. In 1906 the firm created the Engel Lumber and Land Company in Louisiana, which supplied raw material to the Michigan plant. Hummer and his descendants ran the Holland business from 1889 to 1975.
Description:
See Long Description.
Parking nearby?: yes
D/T ratings: 
website: [Web Link]
Registered Site #: L1840
Historical Date: Not listed
Historical Name: Not listed
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