Tacoma's Furniture Manufacturers Make History
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
6:30pm – 7:45pm
Main Branch, Olympic Room
Join us for a presentation on the furniture industry in the city of Tacoma. The biggest furniture manufacturing center west of the Mississippi River, Tacoma was promoted by city boosters as the “Grand Rapids of the West” in the twentieth century. With abundant raw materials, available power, shipping channels and a skilled workforce, Tacoma supplied the bedframes, tables, chairs, and doors that western markets relied on as the west boomed. Local titans like F.S. Harmon, Gregory Furniture and Educators Manufacturing Company pioneered new techniques, revolutionized school furniture and even introduced early modular furniture. Come hear local historians discuss how these manufacturing companies build an industry and kept it thriving through two world wars and the Great Depression, only to see it wane in the age of deindustrialization.
Hosted by the Port of Tacoma, Historical Research Associates, Leon Environmental and Tacoma Public Library
