Norwalk celebrates 100th
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, April 14, 2002
HIGH POINT — A reception in its showroom here, a number of mementos including a Centennial Chair, and special events back home in Norwalk, Ohio, will celebrate Norwalk Furniture's 100th anniversary.
"We have a passion for this business and we value the contribution of all the ambitious people who have worked hard to secure our niche in the marketplace," said Jim Gerken, president and chairman. "So our celebration is for all our employees, partners and our communities."
Norwalk formed an anniversary team to decide on the activities and commemorative materials. A new centennial logo was developed and positioned on all materials, signage and the company fleet of 36 tractors and 90 trailers. Next, a local search was undertaken to find interesting materials from the company's history in Norwalk and Toledo, Ohio, where it was founded in 1902.
Everything from old photographs and newspaper articles to advertisements and old furniture was collected for a special centennial booklet and multimedia presentation, which was first given at the company's national convention in February. The sleek commemorative booklet will be disseminated to trade media, industry partners and Norwalk stakeholders over the next few months.
Parties have been planned for employees, Norwalk friends and the media attending the High Point market. A champagne and wine anniversary reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, in the company's showroom at 215 South Main St.
The last anniversary tour-de-force will actually be Norwalk's own Tour de Norwalk on Aug. 3, a 100-mile bike tour through the rolling countryside of northwest Ohio, to benefit the Huntington Disease Society of America. Avid and recreational cyclists alike are invited to participate and ride a loop of 25 miles or go for the challenging 100-mile finish line. There will be music, muscle-strengthening sustenance and door prizes at the event.
In addition, a young boy's fireside chair, hand crafted 100 years ago for Norwalk founder Charles Edward Gerken's son, Raymond, has been recreated as the special Centennial Chair. It was introduced at the October market and is part of the Norwalk 2002 collection.
From 1902 to today
In 1902, Charles Edward Gerken and John R. Galpin, with pooled resources of $500, launched a new furniture company in Toledo called Galpin & Gerkin. The company moved to larger facilities in Toledo, then to Grand Rapids, Mich., to tap into a new pool of laborers, and then to Norwalk to be near its longtime frame supplier.
The company was at full production at the beginning of World War II, but couldn't use steel for the springs of its furniture since steel was going to the war effort.
Ray Gerken, the founder's son, converted the family business into a producer of war goods — jungle hammocks, footlockers, grenade boxes, radar antennas, cartridge belts, pack boards and plastic mallets. When the war ended, the company went back to making furniture.
During its first half century, the company changed its name twice, moved to five different locations and managed to survive a turbulent economy and two wars.
After the war, the company began making its own wood parts in its facility in Tennessee, and began cutting fabric by age of order instead of maximum size of cut. This enabled Norwalk to provide its dealers with quick-ship programs.
By 1964, the company had acquired Luxury Chair Co. of Grand Rapids and moved it to Norwalk. In 1970, the company built a $2 million, 225,000-square- foot manufacturing facility, then later expanded it to its current size of 450,000 square feet.
In 1987, the corporation launched a retail franchise operation under the name Fine Designs Sofa Gallery, changed later to Norwalk — The Furniture Idea. By 1991, the company had acquired plants in Valdese, N.C., and Fulton, Miss., from Corson Furniture Inds., and now operates the plants as a subsidiary under the trade name Hickory Hill Furniture.
| Norwalk's Ray Gerken, left, then president, supervises the making of the last chair built in the 1940s before the company's factory converted to defense production for World War II. |
| The Centennial Chair, added to Norwalk's line this year, is a reproduction of a chair first built 100 years ago for company founder Charles Edward Gerken's son, Raymond. |
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