By Stephanie Clough
Mumford Restoration and Hickory Manufacturing Company Furniture
North Carolina has produced some truly remarkable furniture producers that have made their way into American history.
And Mumford is proud to have worked on pieces from nearly all of these makers.
Bernard Mumford, our owner/founder and resident furniture nerd, particularly loves a good piece of North Carolina produced furniture and can generally tell you the maker, style, and era (often down to the decade!).
He’s personally trained our furniture restoration specialists and has passed his enthusiasm down to them!
Everyone at Mumford Restoration admires the adaptability Hickory Furniture demonstrated over the decades. It's such fun to see Hickory pieces come in; they truly represent the styles of every era!
From traditional bedroom suits of the early 20th century to the mid-century lines that incorporated Danish modern and Asian influences, Hickory responded to the times. Its furniture combined quality and fashion and allowed the average American to enjoy craftsmanship at a fair price.
The Origins of The Hickory Furniture Company
The Hickory Furniture Company was established in 1901 in Hickory, North Carolina.
28-year-old mercantile owner George Hall worked with Hickory’s other business owners to found the company and make use of the area’s abundant natural resources and access to railway shipping.
Since 1872, Hickory’s only furniture producer was a cabinet maker called Frances Ingold, who was known for his high-quality workmanship and fine materials. In 1962, Hickory resident J. Weston Clinard still recalled the fine carvings in Ingold’s solid walnut bedroom suites. However, most buyers of the era could not afford such quality and instead bought manufactured furniture produced in the northeast.
Hickory Furniture Company would become Hickory’s first large furniture manufacturing plant. The plant was built outside Hickory city limits, near the Southern Railway (formerly the WNCRR).
Hickory Furniture Company at first produced bedroom furniture exclusively, which they built out of oak.
It primarily used an Atlanta-based outlet to showcase its products. With changing styles, Hickory Furniture Company along with Martin Manufacturing (also co-founded by George Hall) began to make more refined, expensive furniture and added outlets across the country.
During the 1910 Appalachian Exposition in Knoxville, Tennessee, the North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey organized an exhibition of North Carolina’s natural resources being used in state industry. The 1909-1910 North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey Biannual Report noted:
The Hickory Furniture Company, of Hickory, N. C., sent a most beautiful line of samples representing North Carolina white oak, red oak, Spanish oak, poplars, birchwood, yellow pine, white pine, linden, spruce, etc.
The presence of Hickory Furniture Company would spur on additional development and investment in the Hickory area; In 1911 George F. Ivey founded the Southern Desk Company, and in 1912 the Hickory Chair Company was established.
The Great Depression
As the Great Depression continued, consumers had less expendable income and the industry became more challenging for furniture manufacturers.
Soon after the Depression began, Hickory Furniture Company was unable to support its full workforce and was forced to begin layoffs.
The Great Depression continued to take its toll on the company and in 1931, Hickory Furniture decided to merge with Martin Manufacturing and Hickory Chair Manufacturing Company.
These three companies would operate as “Hickory Chair Manufacturing Company” until 1944.
WWII
During World War II, Hickory Furniture Company made ammunition boxes for the U.S. military.
In 1944, the Hickory Chair Company split from the Hickory Furniture Company.
The remaining two companies, Hickory Furniture Company and Martin Manufacturing, were then incorporated as The Hickory Manufacturing Company. Its buyers, a group of local Hickory business owners, began to modernize the machinery and equipment and build additional facilities to expand production.
The Post-War Years
At the end of the war, Hickory Manufacturing Company saw a sharp rise in the demand for residential furniture.
By 1952, it was producing bedroom and dining room furniture, mostly reproductions of historic styles, includingGeorgian, Early Colonial, and Hepplewhite. These pieces tended to be made of African mahogany (both solid and veneer) and used southern hardwoods as substrates for its veneered products.
According to the 1952 North Carolina Employment Security Commission (E.S.C.)Quarterly report, Hickory Manufacturing Company had an annual production of $2.5 million (the equivalent of $31.7 million in 2025) and its production facilities boasted of 250,000 square feet.
Additionally, E.S.C. Quarterly reported that Hickory Manufacturing Company employed 300 workers with an annual payroll of $750,000 ($9.5 million in 2025, adjusted for inflation). Additionally, it operated a profit-sharing plan for all employees and paid all premiums on a group life and hospitalization insurance plan for all of its workers.
Above, left: a circa 1946 advertisement for Hickory Manufacturing Company bedroom furniture.
Above, center: a 1949 ad in House and Garden Magazine for Hickory Manufacturing Company's Colonial-inspired bedroom collection.
Design Offerings
Although Hickory Furniture’s earliest offerings were traditional and reproduction oak dining and bedroom sets, they diversified to include international design styles and more modern finishes.
The Summer Fall 1960 E.S.C. Quarterly Report noted that Hickory Furniture’s new furniture designer was responsible for their popular Signal Hill (an Asian-inspired design) and Faubourg (a French-inspired design) collections. In addition to traditional finishes of “butternut and pecan,” Hickory Manufacturing also offered antique white with red and gold overtones. In addition, they had introduced a number of Danish Modern-design chairs with loose cushions several years earlier, which were becoming increasingly popular.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Hickory Manufacturing Company continued to feature in home design magazines and was still known for using Honduran Mahogany. The July 12, 1972 edition of House and Garden Magazine advertised Hickory Manufacturing’s “American Masterpiece Collection” of American and English reproductions of bedroom, dining room, and living room furniture.
According to a July 1984 headquarters operations division weekly report, the CIA even placed an order for new serving pieces in the Director's Dining Room (a new breakfront for china display and storage, a triple buffet, and two mobile servers from the Artistry line of the Hickory Manufacturing Company).
Above right, Hickory Manufacturing Company's tortoise shell patterned chair with a woven back featured in the September 1963 issue of House and Garden Magazine.
Below center, a closer look at the chair.
The Turbulent Years
In 1985, Hickory Manufacturing Company bought White Furniture Company and became Hickory White Furniture.
By the early 90s, the U.S. was experiencing an economic recession. Furniture companies were struggling to sell their items when many consumers were hesitant or unable to commit to non-essential purchases.
At the end of 1993, Hickory made the decision to close White Furniture Company’s Mebane facility and from then on, Hickory White operated exclusively out of Hickory, NC.
Hickory White Today
Hickory White Furniture is still in operation in Hickory, NC.
It emphasizes its customization options and allows clients to choose custom finishes, hardware and upholstery for each piece in their collections.
The tagline is “Hickory White: Where custom is the norm”
Above Right, a Hickory Manufacturing Ad that appeared in a 1963 issue of House and Garden.
Mumford: The Name in Antique and Heirloom Repair
When you have antiques and heirloom quality furniture, it’s hard to know who to trust them to. Who can make quality repairs, not quick fixes? Who can apply a fresh finish to equal the original?
Well…we can. We’ve been doing just that for over 40 years.
From Hickory Furniture’s 1901 bedroom suite, to their Danish modern chairs, to the CIA’s favorite Artistry line pieces, Mumford Restoration can clean, repair, and refinish any of your favorite Hickory furniture.
If you have an antique or heirloom piece, you can be sure we’ll treat it as lovingly and respectfully as you do.
Call our furniture restoration specialists today or submit our online form and get your favorite piece of furniture restored to its former glory!
Below: A very, very strange (but fortunately staged) publicity photo for a 1960 TV series features a canopied settee from Hickory Manufacturing Company. It combined elements of traditional and modern design, which defined Hickory's adaptable design philosophy.
