Dominion Chair Company
Encyclopedia
Dominion Chair Company is the name commonly used to refer to the wooden furniture
manufacturing company that operated from 1860 to 1989 in Bass River
, Nova Scotia
, Canada
. The company still operates a general store
.
The hand-craft
ed furniture produced at Dominion Chair (as it is locally known) was sold to retailers throughout Canada
and the northeastern U.S.. The company employed between 40 and 70 from the local area at any one time from the late 19th century to its end. At the time of their founding the Maritime home furnishings retailer Bass River Chairs choice their company name because of their then retailing Dominion Chair furniture.
George and William Fulton, brothers and great-grandsons of the first settler of Bass River, "Judge" James Fulton
, began by making wood furniture out of their home in 1860. (Hemeon, 1987) George continued by founding a "joint stock company" in 1875, naming it Union Furniture and Merchandise Company. (Ibid) The name Dominion Chair Company Limited was adopted in 1903. Operations continued despite at least five devastating fires, a severe explosion, a four-month long general strike of workers in the 1979, and a change in ownership that resulted in a further name change in 1985. A sixth fire in February 1989, completely destroying the plant's main building and facilities, did irreparable damage to company's ability to operate. Manufacturing was moved briefly to nearby Debert where operations ceased in the mid 1990s.
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
manufacturing company that operated from 1860 to 1989 in Bass River
Bass River, Nova Scotia
Bass River is an unincorporated rural community in western Colchester County, north-central Nova Scotia, in the Maritimes of Canada.-Location:...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The company still operates a general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
.
The hand-craft
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
ed furniture produced at Dominion Chair (as it is locally known) was sold to retailers throughout Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the northeastern U.S.. The company employed between 40 and 70 from the local area at any one time from the late 19th century to its end. At the time of their founding the Maritime home furnishings retailer Bass River Chairs choice their company name because of their then retailing Dominion Chair furniture.
George and William Fulton, brothers and great-grandsons of the first settler of Bass River, "Judge" James Fulton
Judge Fulton
----James "Judge" Fulton was justice of the peace, judge, surveyor, politician, and founder of the village of Bass River, Nova Scotia....
, began by making wood furniture out of their home in 1860. (Hemeon, 1987) George continued by founding a "joint stock company" in 1875, naming it Union Furniture and Merchandise Company. (Ibid) The name Dominion Chair Company Limited was adopted in 1903. Operations continued despite at least five devastating fires, a severe explosion, a four-month long general strike of workers in the 1979, and a change in ownership that resulted in a further name change in 1985. A sixth fire in February 1989, completely destroying the plant's main building and facilities, did irreparable damage to company's ability to operate. Manufacturing was moved briefly to nearby Debert where operations ceased in the mid 1990s.