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I have a dining room set which has the name "Showers Furniture" inside a door. There's a trunk of a tree with 18 on the left side and 68 on the right side. Can you help me with any additional information?

I bought a piece of furniture that has the Shower Furniture emblem on the inside of a door. The piece has been painted several times, not well I may add. Is there a catalog that would show me furniture built by this company throughout its existence?

Showers furniture was started by Charles Christopher Showers in 1850 in Bloomington, IN. He sold it to his eldest sons William and James in 1868 for $300 so he could return to life on the road as a Methodist minister. He was later killed in a train accident in 1882. Showers Furniture supplied to Montgomery Ward, Spiegel and Sears mail order; in fact, the first coach of the Hoosiers left coaching to go to work for Mr.Sears (who was managing Showers furniture at the time).

Showers Furniture's height of prosperity came in the 1920's and billed itself as "the Largest Furniture Factory in the World". Despite it being the second largest employer in Monroe County, Showers Furniture never quite recovered from the Depression and later sold its Plant No. 4 to RCA in 1940. It sold the remainder of the business to Storkline Furniture in 1956 and sold to Indiana University 3 years later.

Thanks to Jane McWilliams for this answer.

Storkline Baby Furniture Co was located in Chicago.

Contact the Chamber of Commerce:

Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

Web Site: www.chicagolandchamber.org

330 N. WabashOne IBM Plaza, Ste. 2800 Chicago, IL 60611

(T) 312-494-6700(F) 312-494-0196(E)

E-mail: staff@chicagolandchamber.org

Also contact the

Chicago Historical Society

Web Site: www.chicagohistory.org

Clark Street at North Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60614-6071