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Souvenirs ➔ Medal And Case, 'awarded To Nelson & Matter Furniture Co. By U.S. Centennial Commission, 1876'
Identifier:
123625Description:
Major Grand Rapids furniture manufacturers such as Berkey & Gay and Nelson & Matter traveled to the 1876 Centennial World's Fair held in Philadelphia to showcase the most elaborate and impressive furniture they could produce at the exhibition of "Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine." Nelson & Matter would go home with this medal awarded by the commission, but they were not alone. Berkey & Gay and Phoenix Furniture would also receive awards for workmanship. Indeed, the tremendous performance of the Grand Rapids furniture companies and the Exhibition helped to establish the reputation of "Furniture City" and transformed the relative backwater into a industrial metropolis and the center of fine furniture making well into the 20th century.Date:
1876Current Location Status:
On Exhibit;In StorageCollection Tier:
Tier 2Source:
Gift Of Mr. Jay D. UtleyExhibit/Program:
Furniture City (1994 – 2013)Furniture City was one of the signature core exhibits installed at the Grand Rapids Public Museum's new Van Andel Museum Center when it opened in 1994. At approximately 10,000 square feet, the exhibit occupied a significant portion of the museum's second floor and contained hundreds of pieces of Grand Rapids Furniture. The exhibition was accompanied by the authoritative book on the subject, "Grand Rapids Furniture", by GRPM curator Christian Carron. The Furniture City exhibit told a comprehensive story of the Furniture Industry in Grand Rapids, from its origins in the years after the Civil War, up to the present day with office and fixed seating manufacturers like Steelcase and American Seating. The exhibition was significantly reduced in size in 2013 to make room for a new gallery and was closed in 2019.
