Fred  MACEY

    
A Good Cheap Desk
The Fred Macey Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Ladies' Home Journal
January 1898

The Macey Furniture Co. was founded by Fred Macey, who served as its first chairman along with his brother Frank, who also served as treasurer. In 1892 Fred began a mail-order business selling office desks made by other manufacturers, which were advertised in popular magazine as “the best $25 roll-top office desk in the world.” His hefty advertising budget made the company a quick success, and other pieces of office and library furniture were soon added to the mail-order line. But as his mail-order sales began to cut into the traditional sales through retailers, Michigan retailers pressured area furniture manufacturers to prevent them from producing finished goods for Macey. To get around this obstacle, Fred Macey invested his mail-order profits in the construction of his own factory. He also expanded his mail-order business, with a national system of warehouses for distribution.

In 1905, when the Wernicke Furniture Co. merged with the Fred Macey Co., Otto H.L. Wernicke became an officer of the company. In 1906 the Globe – Wernicke Co. of Cincinnati sued Macey for continuing to produce furniture using Wernicke’s patents. After years of litigation, Macey won, then counter-sued to recover its court costs. Following Fred Macey’s death from typhoid pneumonia in 1909, Otto Wernicke became company president, a position he held until his retirement from active involvement at Macey in 1916... furniturecityhistory.org

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