Ahnapee, Algoma and Furniture Meant to Last

Algoma is not regarded as a furniture manufacturing center today, and it never really was, however, the manufacture of chairs, tables, bedsteads and bureaus filled a niche early in the community's history. Until the coming of the railroad in 1892 and the increasing reliance on motor vehicles in the 1920's, furniture manufacturing provided village residents with incomes for about 60 years. It was furniture that was built to last. And it did.

When William Perry opened the Ahnapee Chair Factory in 1860, it was the first manufacturing plant for anything other than lumber. Located near Hall's Mill*, the factory moved into the Sterret building on the northwest corner of State and 4th in November 1870. Eighteen months later, the Enterprise reported that Ahnapee Manufacturing Co. was erecting machinery for turning out bedsteads and chairs. Over the years that company was sold and resold and resold again.

J. Anderegg and Co. took over the company in 1873. According to the Enterprise the new management included John Densow, Frank Feuerstein, William Boedecker, P.M. Simon and Simon Haag, and with those men there was sure to be an increase business. The Record noted in August 1878 that at least 2/3 of the community's businessmen had owned the establishment at one time or another during its 18 years. The table at the left is stamped "Patent, March 25, 1875.

Six years after Perry organized the chair factory, he and Rufus Wing opened a broom handle company. During the factory's construction, Perry was ridiculed by those who were sure the company would be a failure. Perry was a good businessman who was not easily discouraged. Those who predicted failure were proven right. Though the factory was completed, broom handles didn't make for a lasting business.

Today's Netto Palazzo was once Detjen's furniture factory. Herman Detjen had his beginnings in the early 1880s. In July 1890 he opened Detjen & Co. furniture store in the Seibt building at the northwest corner of 4th and State Streets. By then he was also manufacturing doors and other wood products, changing the company name to Ahnapee Manufacturing Co. Two years later the Record called attention to the factory's new patented dust collection system that took dust and shavings to the fire room for burning. The company again made news when it purchased a sanding machine and a machine to groove locks in drawers. The dresser at the left has those locks in all drawers.

As early as 1881, Kumbalek and Pies were manufacturing and repairing harnesses while also advertising their furniture making. Most of their ads pointed to their coffins, a sideline of most furniture manufacturers.

Ahnapee Veneer and Seating plant came about in 1892 on the approximate site of the old chair factory on the east side of the South Branch, just below the old Hall's Mill dam site. The plant built church pews, benches for railroad stations and any other kind of seating one wanted. The Veneer and Seating plant was a success from the beginning and is known as Algoma Hardwoods today, though seating is no longer part of the business. The plant was operating as Algoma Plywood and Veneer during World War ll when it distinguished itself with boat hulls, airplane wings and noses.

In May 1897 the wealthy Charles Griswold Boalt announced he'd build tables for both Herman Detjen and Paul Gablowsky. Gablowsky operated a planning mill and produced mostly cheese boxes, though he was also known to build coffins. Gablowsky was even advertising how much money his coffins could save a family. After all, they were locally made. A year after Boalt began manufacturing the tables, Gablowsky announced he'd make kitchen cabinets with zinc lined drawers, one of which was so large that it could hold 100# of flour. All that for $10.00.

Plumbers Woodwork made toilet seats for most of 100 years. To some, the manufactured wooden seats were regarded something special. For some, having that quality ranked as furniture. In the 1920s Algoma Wood Products was producing office and hotel furniture in the Navarino Street building constructed for the purpose. The building was eventually acquired by the Plywood as Plant 2 and is now Cape Townsend.

Area craftsman and hobbyists still build pieces of furniture, but furniture manufacturing in Algoma is long-gone. Many area residents enjoy beautiful pieces of old furniture handed down in families or found at area yard sales. Most don't realize the pieces were made in Ahnapee/Algoma with virgin maple, oak, hickory and black walnut cut from the thick forests that once made up Kewaunee County. Each piece has its own story to tell. And many do. The stamp below is on the underside of the table above.

* Hall's Mill was on the South Branch of the Wolf - now Ahnapee - River, beyond what became The Plumbers and then Olsonite.