Canada's oldest furniture factory, The Gibbard Furniture Shops Limited, Napanee, Ont., was founded by John Gibbard, a cabinet maker who came to "The Napanee", as the village was then known, in 1835 and shortly thereafter leased a mill on the canal that still runs through the Gibbard plant. He began the manufacture of sash, doors and furniture, coffins and many items, such as fanning mills, for the local farmers. The first Gibbard plant was run by water power, using the fall of water from the canal to the Napanee River. The water turned a water wheel which, through belts and line shafting, turned the machines. In 1864 the factory burned to the ground, but by 1868 it had been rebuilt on a more extensive scale. The manufacture of sash and doors was discontinued after 1871, and the firm's whole energies were devoted to furniture making. Fire, the great destroyer of nineteenth century industries, struck again in 1874, but again the plant was rebuilt within a year. The new structure was supplied with both steam and water power and equipped with the latest machinery. Every article of manufacture, noted the Historical Atlas of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington in 1878, "comes under the head of elegant furniture, from a basswood cradle to a rosewood coffin." Some sixteen separate buildings have been built against one another at various times to form the present plant. The Gibbard Company remained in control of the Gibbard family for four generations, until 1940, when the firm was purchased by Jack McPherson, who had been Sales Manager in the 1920's. The Presidents since McPherson have been his widow, Mrs. Jack McPherson, David S. Roffey and Bruce R. McPherson. After 173 years, the Gibbard Furniture Shoppes of Napanee, Canada's oldest furniture maker and one of the oldest continuously operating companies in North America closed its doors in 2008, the latest victim of a surging Canadian dollar, increased competition from Asian imports and the inability to find new owners. Gibbard furniture was sold everywhere in Canada and can be found in Canadian embassies in many countries of the world. . This cache is part of the Putting L&A on the map Alphabet Series The cache is not at the posted coordinates.
Final can be found at:
(NE - 1) (N/NE + 1) 2(N)+W-16
(NNW - W + 8.5) (S - SE +2) (NNW X 2 + S + 30)
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