- - - INDUSTRIES - - -
The Sutter Furniture Company
 
 
This concern is one of long standing and was started years ago by Samuel Sutter, a practical cabinet maker, who conducted the business up to May, 1883, when J.C. Sutter, G.K. Sutter and L.W. Barkdull, under the firm name of S. Sutter & Co., who in a few years moved into the plant of the Woolen Mill, standing where the Retail Store now stands, and continued to 1885, when Samuel Sutter retired and Frederick Sutter took an interest.
 
Under firm name of Sutter, Barkdull & Co., who in 1887 largely increased the capacity of the business by enlarging buildings and the addition of a large amount of new machinery and were just getting into a prosperous condition when on September 28, 1889, fire completely destroying their plant, with a loss of $12,000 and small insurance. However, not to be stopped in their energy, they purchased the lot where the present factory stands and erected the present commodious plant. In January 1891, a stock company was formed with a capital of $50,000.00 in the name of the Sutter-Barkdull Co., which firm continued up to 1897, when L.W. Barkdull retiring, the articles of incorporation were amended changing the name to The Sutter Furniture Company.
 
Their plant covers seven acres of buildings and lumber. Their buildings are large and commodious filled with the latest and best machinery and their product consisting of 20,000 pieces per annum of furniture, extension tables, cupboards, etcs., extension tables being the principle product of their plant and are shipping same to all parts of the United States.
 
The Retail and Undertaking department is at No. 18 Main Street. Their stock is large and everything kept in a first class furniture store will be found here including mantels, grates, tile, refrigerators, etc. The undertaking department is under the management of G.K. Sutter whose pleasant manner in conducting funerals has won for him many friends.
 
The officers are J.C. Sutter, President; H.M. Dick, Vice President, Fred Sutter, Secretary and Treasurer. Directors: G.K. Sutter, H.W. Hildebrant, Henry Wentz, W.R. Brooks, H.M. Dick, J.C. Sutter, Fred Sutter.
 
The Republican Industrial Edition



Article contributed by Ruby Bonecutter
 
 
Samuel Sutter was born in Switzerland in 1823. Samuel started his cabinet making trade
in Shelby in 1844. In 1846, he married Elizabeth Will (born 1825, in Baden, Germany) and
by the 1850 census, they were living in the village of Shelby; Samuel was listed as a cabinet
maker and they had started their family. The Sutter family continued to grow and reside in Shelby
through 1860 and by 1870, the family household numbered 12. There were then 8 surviving children.
The oldest, Valentine, a cabinet maker himself, was married and with his wife Anna, and their first child,
was living with the Samuel Sutter family. By 1880 Samuel and Elizabeth were living on East Main St.
with 2 of their younger children. Samuel was still in the cabinet making business. As you can see
from the above article, the business was sold in 1883. Ten years later Samuel passed away.
 
Samuel Sutter 1823 - 1893 Elizabeth Will Sutter 1825 - 1900
Both are buried in Oakland Cemetery.
 
 
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