"Union City Seats the World"

"Union City Seats the World". . , Union City's railroad connectivity and existing lumber businesses positioned the small community, after the discovery of oil near Titusville in 1859, to establish an oil-barrel industry. The Woods and Johnson barrel factory by 1870 employed 70 workers and billed itself as the largest producer of oil barrels in the United States.

As the oil boom declined in the 1870s, Union City and its approximately 1,500 inhabitants continued to capitalize on its wood-products industries, including lumber, barrels, wooden pumps, shovel handles, caskets, and at least one chair manufacturer. Still, Union City's economy at the time was predominantly agricultural.

That began to change in 1881 with the construction of Union City Chair Co. on Crooked (now Market) Street. Destroyed by fire three times in its first 26 years, the factory was ultimately rebuilt with brick in 1908 and helped establish Union City's reputation as a furniture center. Millions of hardwood chairs were produced by Union City Chair's workers over 119 years, until the plant closed in 2000. The company's ownership and management for most of its first 90 years were affiliated with the Caflisch family.

By 1913, Union City Chair Co., Shreve Chair Co., Standard Chair Co. and others were producing thousands of chairs daily. Most of the furniture manufacturers burned down at least once, including the Shreve Chair Co. in 1913. It was reported at the time that "as the fire swept thru the lumber yards of the concern, dynamite was used to blow up four piles of timber to prevent the fire from reaching two other industrial plants. The noise of the explosion was heard in Corry and the shock was felt in Lincolnville, eight miles from Union." Three hundred employees were out of work for only five months before a rebuilt plant on Fourth Avenue made its first furniture shipment. The company was sold in 1939 and ultimately went out of business.

Standard Chair Co. on South Main Street operated from 1898 until becoming part of Ethan Allen's Cherry Hill Division in 1966. Ethan Allen's nearly 250 employees churned out some 2,700 dining room chairs, 400 dining room tables and 300 to 500 other tables on a weekly basis.

At least a dozen chair/furniture manufacturers called Union City home between the first documented company in 1867, and the closure of the Ethan Allen plant 136 years later in 2003.

Thousands of Union City-area residents over multiple generations produced millions of chairs, tables and other furniture. It's no wonder one of the community's earliest mottos was "Union City Seats the World!"

[photo captions] , • Union City’s furniture-making experienced many technological improvements over its long history, allowing for the production of parts in large numbers., • Touted as the “Largest chair in the world,” this chair was made at the Shreve Chair Co. Holding 25 men, the chair exceeds 12 feet high and 6 feet wide., • Women worked alongside men to keep Union City’s furniture factories humming, including these three women putting finishing touches on new chairs., • It took a lot of wood, man (and woman) power, and equipment to produce the millions of pieces of furniture that came from Union City’s factories.