Inwood Office Furniture history

On April 15, 1890, a patent was issued by the United States patent office to Mr.

In 1904, with the arrival of the elevated subway trains, Inwood’s first apartment buildings, the Solano and Monida, were erected at the northeast corner of Broadway and Dyckman Street.

New arrivals could also hike north across the Spuyten Duyvil to a well-established station on 226th Street, “but this serves the Kingsbridge section and has no practical advantage to Inwood.” (The Sun, March 20, 1919)

From time to time rumors have been current that a carrier station would be established in the district, but the project always fell through.” (The Sun and New York Herald, February 2, 1920)

Sometime around 1923, and possibly earlier, Inwood finally received a post office—though not the Sherman Avenue location most in the neighborhood had hoped for.

More than 19,000 desks were manufactured in 1926.

Recognizing their area of expertise focusing on office desks, teachers’ desks, secretaries’ desks, and other office furniture, the company officially changed their name to Indiana Desk Company in 1929.

Inwood Station, designed by Brooklyn architect Carroll H. Pratt, was one of twelve new post offices built in Manhattan during the mid to late 1930’s.

However, because of wise investing and financial stability, the company was able to purchase the A. Robineau Furniture Company in the nearby community of Dubois in 1932.

Today’s fire is believed to have started from an overheated furnace.” (New York Sun, February 9, 1934)

On June 29, 1937, Goldman, believed to have been Gotham’s first Jewish Postmaster, stood before a crowd of nearly a thousand persons and welcomed them to the new facility.

Goldman said, will employ three supervisors, 25 clerks, 26 carriers, 12 substitutes and two laborers.” (New York Sun, December 2, 1939)

However, it wasn’t until the 1940’s that designers really started to pay attention to the workplace and office furniture design.

In fact, his ‘Home Office Desk’ launched in 1947 is still considered an iconic office furniture design classic, and the first modern workstation.

Post-War expansion of the economy brought unprecedented growth during the 1950’s.

Seating also began to play a greater role as staff looked for comfortable solutions with adequate lumber support, and so products like the Rosewood Swivel Chair and of course, the now iconic Eames Lounge Chair (launched in 1957) were introduced.

While Inwood’s operations are relatively new, Manumetal is a household name in Kigali, having operated since 1967.

In 1981 the Dubois plant, known as the Indiana Cabinet Company, discontinued manufacture of household furniture and merged with Indiana Desk to concentrate on the manufacture of office furniture.

In 1986 Indiana Desk bought Indiana Chair Company which added upholstered office seating to the company’s product lines.

In the vigorous business climate of the 1990’s Indiana Desk was thriving and made many significant changes to the operations.

Also in 1993, preparing to be even more competitive in the industry at the turn of the century, Indiana Furniture Industries built and equipped a 60,000 square foot plant on the south side of Jasper to manufacture their own plywood.

Initially started by Belgian entrepreneurs, operations halted after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

However, with the attacks of September 11, 2001, the economic climate went into a period of recession that affected business at Indiana Furniture Industries and lead to staff cut-backs.

In 2005, Indiana Furniture celebrated 100 years of continuous manufacturing business – a rare milestone.