Grand Ledge Chamber of Commerce

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Grand Ledge Chair Company

The Grand Ledge Chair Company was founded in 1883, when three young carpenters from Grand Rapids named Thomas Garrett, Harry Jordan, and Edward Crawford opened a shop on South Bridge and River Streets to produce chairs. It may have been called the Michigan Chair Company at that time. From contemporary newspaper accounts, we know that it was known as the Grand Ledge Chair Company by 1885. In 1893, after having established a successful business in Grand Ledge, Garrett, Jordan, and Crawford decided to sell out and returned to Grand Rapids to open a furniture factory there. The factory produced high-quality furniture, primarily chairs, although at various times tables have been made there as well.

Back in Grand Ledge, a local businessman named Edward Turnbull decided to take advantage of the opportunity and with a partner, George W. Fletcher, he bought the factory and some of the machinery in 1893. They kept the name Grand Ledge Chair Company. Shortly after acquiring the business, Turnbull bought our Fletcher's share of the business and become the sole owner.

The original factory building was located on the Grand River, on South Bridge Street, adjacent to the Opera House. It was a large three story building. The company did well, eventually outgrowing the old factory on Bridge Street. In 1906 Turnbull built a new three story brick factory on Perry Street and moved his operations there.

The Grand Ledge Chair Company was a success, and Turnbull turned his attention to other ventures, such as the Grand Ledge Clay Products Company and the Reo Motor Company in Lansing. He died in 1916, leaving the Chair Company in the hands of his wife, Emma. She headed up the company, with assistance from manager C.M. Maris, through the Depression years and unionization in 1941. When she died in 1944, the company passed to her sister and brother-in-law, Zella and Raymond Hull. They saw the company through the long strike and incorporation during the late 1940's. Mrs. Hull died in 1950, but the company remained with her family and was managed by Mr. Hull until 1966. Their grandsons managed the Chair Company for seven years until 1973, when it became a division of the Holabird Corporation. Finally in 1981 the company closed, due to falling sales, foreign competition, and outdated facilities.

The old factory building on Perry Street is still standing and has been renovated into an apartment building, incorporating many of the architectural features of the old factory into the modern apartments.

For more information on the Grand Ledge Chair Company, please visit the Grand Ledge Area Historical Society or email sschramski@aol.com.