Gustav’s father abandoned his young family in the early 1870’s. Young Gustav was forced to quit school after the eighth grade. His family moved to Pennsylvania to live with his mother’s brother, Jacob Schlaegar. Jacob Schlaegar owned a chair factory in Brandt, Pennsylvania. Gustav worked in the chair factory until 1884.
In 1884, Gustav and his brothers Charles and Albert moved to start a retail furniture business in Binghampton, NY. In 1886, Stickley added a chair factory to their Binghampton operations. This factory was partly financed by Schuyler Brandt. The Company was called the Stickley Brothers Company.
In the Brandt chair factory, Stickley produced a simple style of chair. But the products produced here had not yet evolved into the Stickley style of furniture that we think of today.
Near the end of the 1880’s, Stickley broke connections with the Stickley Brother’s Company. Gustav became the partner of Elgin Simonds. The company was called Stickley and Simonds.
In 1891, Stickley became the Vice-President of the Binghamton Street Railroad. An electrically powered trolley system. In 1892-94, Stickley was the Director of Manufacturing for the State Prison in Auburn, NY.
During this time, in 1892, Stickley purchased property in Eastwood, New York. Here, he would build a factory with his former partner, Elgin Simonds. Eastwood was a suburb of Syracuse.
Gustav Stickley became involved in an effort to combine the forces of all chair manufacturers in the United States. In 1899, he participated in an attempt to create a corporation called the American Chair Company. However, this attempt to consolidate all of the chair companies never occurred.
It is believed that Gustav Stickley visited Europe in 1898. At this point, Stickley must have been inspired by the European Arts and Crafts movement.
In 1901, Stickley first created his magazine, The Craftsman. In the first issues, Stickley featured the philosophies of Ruskin and Morris. Ruskin and Morris were very important minds in the European Arts and Crafts movement.
Stickley claimed that his first two craftsman designs were completed in 1898. In July 1900, he exhibited his new designs at a furniture trade show in Grand Rapids. Later in 1900, the Tobey Furniture Company of Chicago began distributing Stickley’s designs.
At the very end of 1900, Stickley began to rent the Crouse stables in Syracuse, NY. This was a very fancy building which Stickley used as a showroom for his new furniture. Stickley came to call this building the Craftsman Building.
From the Crouse Stables, Stickley began to publish The Craftsman magazine. He had the help of a very talented writer in Irene Sargent. Dr. Sargent was a professor at Syracuse University. In the first issue of The Craftsman, Dr. Sargent focused on the early work of William Morris in England in the latter half of the 19th century. The early Arts and Crafts movement in Europe had ties to socialism. It was movement promoting well built, hand crafted, honest work. The movement was connected to a backlash against the poor treatment of workers in the urban factories. In Stickley’s first magazine, he seems to warn readers that some of Morris’ views would be viewed as “extreme.” Stickley was certainly not a socialist, but he was enamored with the stylish pieces created by the Arts and Crafts Movement. While Stickley was not a socialist, he was interested in some of the concepts, particularly the ideas involving fair treatment of his employees. He did believe in using plans of profit sharing with his employees to help motivate them. He used a profit sharing plan with his employees until the year 1904.
Stickley also became quite interested in architecture. He published his first house design in his magazine in August of 1902. In this first printing of the magazine featuring his homes, Stickley offered to assist his readers by answering any questions they had on the design of a craftsman style home. Stickley’s architectural designs were later improved by the talented individuals whom he employed. The most notable architect in his employment was Harvey Ellis, who worked with Stickley through the latter half of 1903.
In November 1903, Stickley announced the Home Builders Club in his magazine. Any subscriber was eligible to receive a free set of house plans. By the time the magazine ended in 1916, there were more than 200 different home plans available to Stickley’s subscribers.
Stickley’s operations moved to New York City in 1905, when the Crouse stables were sold. At this time, Stickley kept an apartment in New York City. His family kept their home in Syracuse. Stickley travelled to Syracuse to visit his family as well as his factory.
In 1908, Stickley bought a large tract of farmland in Morris Plains, NJ. This property would become known as Craftsman Farms. Stickley hoped to someday build a home and school on the property. Stickley moved his family to the Craftsman Farms property in 1910. Their home was a structure which was a modification of a plan for the Craftsman Farms clubhouse. Stickley wanted the farm to have a clubhouse for lectures and meetings. The structure in which the family lived was designed to be their home only temporarily and later become the clubhouse. However, this never happened.
After Stickley moved his business operations to NYC in 1905, he had two different headquarters before finally moving to the grand 12 story “Craftsman Building” at 6 East 39th Street. The building opened in 1913.
By the time the new Craftsman Building opened, Stickley’s business was already in financial trouble. Tastes were beginning to change and Stickley was facing stiff competition from other producers of Arts and Crafts furniture including several of his own brothers.
Stickley filed for bankruptcy in May 1915. He owed nearly a quarter of a million dollars. He lost his magazine, his Craftsman Building, and his farms in Morris Plains. The magazine continued to publish through the end of 1916.
Stickley’s wife died in 1918. He moved back to his house in Syracuse and lived there in a third story apartment for the next 24 years. The rest of the house was occupied by his daughter, Barbara Wiles and her family.
Gustav Stickley died April 21, 1942.
The above events of Gustav Stickley's life were summarized by John Ellingson. Much of the historical facts cited in the summary are from a book called Gustav Stickley, The Craftsman by Mary Ann Smith. The book was published by Dover 1983. For much more information about the life of Stickley, I would recommend you purchase Ms. Smith's book, Gustav Stickley, the Craftsman
This summary was provided by Shady Grove Craftsman Furniture. We are psssionate about the Craftsman History. We invite you to browse through some of our Stickley inspired furniture shown below. See Our Furniture
