Grand Rapids Bookcase and Chair Co.

From its founding until 1880, the company produced chairs and sold surplus logs and lumber. In 1878, they boasted more than 450 styles of chairs. More than 300 boys and girls were employed at the State Reform School in Lansing to cane the seats. In that same year, they began production of upholstery frames for parlor furniture. In 1880 Elisha Foote expanded the styles of furniture made and began manufacturing complete suites. An 1883 article about Grand Rapids Chair Co. mentions that ash is their popular wood for that season, with “carved panels and heavier moldings.” By the late 1880s their product lines had expanded to include medium-grade chamber suites, tables, bookcases, sideboards, and chiffoniers of maple, birch, cherry, and walnut, as well chairs. Ads by the turn of the century stated emphatically that “we make no chairs.”

Early 20th-century ads show both Golden Oak case pieces with serpentine fronts and cabriole legs referencing French historical styles, as well as Mission oak pieces. A 1900 article also lists mahogany, birch, maple, and bird’s-eye maple in their lines. Ads from the 1910s and ‘20s show dining room furniture, living room, and hall furniture, and spinet desks in a wide range of period styles, including Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Gothic, Elizabethan, Jacobean, Georgian, Adam, and Early American. Favored woods were walnut and mahogany. A Tudor line called “Castle Oak” seems to have been a flagship product in the early twenties.

In 1928 Grand Rapids Chair introduced the “Gaylady” Group, which may have been the name for its first modern line by Kem Weber. Its pieces featured the soft lines of French Art Deco, with light and dark contrasting woods and “artistic color treatments.” During the 1950s the company made the “High-Lo Table,” aimed at newly married couples with small apartments. It featured an adjustable height mechanism, which allowed it to transform from cocktail table to card or dining table. The “Cross Country” line was a modular unit ensemble introduced in 1950 and marketed by Sligh. Its Scandinavian Modern styling and flexibility made it particularly suitable for ranch-style homes. The entire factory was eventually devoted to production of the Cross County line.

Source: Furniture City History website