As I mentioned in my recent York Sunday News column, from 1942 to 1945 the Red Lion Cabinet Company was dedicated to making products for the military, working with other companies as part of the York Plan, a locally initiated system of wartime manufacturing cooperation that became a national model.
As a follow up to my recent post and York Sunday News article on the Red Lion Cabinet Company, here are photos of some of the millions of wooden radio and television cabinets turned out by the company from the 1920s through the 1950s. Lighting and angles are not ideal
The aerial photo above is the cover of an undated booklet giving statistics on the Red Lion Cabinet Company. It was probably done around 1953 when York County manufacturing was booming and the cabinet company itself was at its peak. The buildings still stand, occupying much of the northeastern part
I came across the booklet above while doing some research on the Red Lion Cabinet Company. It is undated, but was allegedly done around 1953, when the company was nearing its peak production, with 10 % of the entire wooden television cabinet market. The list of statistics on the first
One of my posts not too long ago contained a link to the story of Mary Reineberg Buchard, a young podiatrist from York. Mary had developed a love for flying small airplanes locally, so when she heard about the World War II WASP (Women Airforce Service Program) she realized she
A.L. Benford at J.A. Renaut Furniture, c.1914 I recently came across two April 1982 newspaper clippings at York County Heritage Trust on Benford’s Furniture in Hanover. The articles were from the Hanover Evening Sun and the York Sunday News. Benford’s was celebrating their 150th anniversary that week in 1982. The
I’ve been doing some research lately on early York County furniture makers and found that there were many more of these skilled craftspeople than I realized. It does make sense–everyone needed furniture and few were wealthy enough to have it “imported” from Baltimore or Philadelphia. The existing tax lists from
An ad in a 1823 York Recorder reminds us again why the good-old-days weren’t so great. Cabinetmaker George Dowdel guaranteed that his improved bedstead was better than any heretofore made.
From the early days furniture makers prospered in Pennsylvania. A variety of sturdy woods were available and local craftsmen had the skills to fashion them into pleasingly utilitarian pieces. Charles Strack of York regularly ran the advertisement below in the York Gazette of 1842 reminding residents of the vast selection