Keyes' Carpenter Shop - Jamestown, New York
Posted by: 
Szuchie
N 42° 05.826 W 079° 14.498
17T E 645404 N 4662053
This historic plaque identifies this as the site of Royal Keyes carpenter shop, which would grow to become the origin of Jamestown's furniture industry.
Waymark Code: WM37PF
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 02/23/2008
Views: 18
This marker states:
Keyes' Carpenter Shop
Here in 1816 Royal Keyes cabinet maker erected a small two-story carpenter shop. In its second story he employed his spare time making simple articles of furniture for the pioneer community. From this small beginning has grown the great furniture industry of Jamestown.
Erected by the Jamestown Centennial Commission and the State of New York 1927.
According to the City of Jamestown:
Royal Keyes, a carpenter and cabinet maker, came to Jamestown in 1816 from Newfane, Vermont, and erected at the southwest corner of Main and Fourth Streets a small two-story carpenter shop. He was a house builder and devoted a major part of his time to that employment. In his spar time, however, he made simple articles of furniture. He soon hired a journeyman cabinet maker and increased his furniture making. This was the beginning of furniture making in appreciable quantities in Jamestown. When the volume was sufficient, the surplus was shipped to southern markets upon rafts and later by flatboats.
William Breed joined Keyes in 1820 and three years later, William’s brother, John, bought out Keyes. Breed Brothers continued for fifty years as the largest manufacturer of furniture in the county.