Ginny and I grew up in New York State, Gin not far from Syracuse in Canastota, NY me in Olean. Growing up in this part of the country we would without knowing, come into contact with Stickley furniture almost everywhere we went. Ginny has fond memories of rocking or being rocked in a Stickley-made rocking chair her grandmother had. I can still picture some of the furniture at the Adirondack lodges we would visit on family trips. Schools, Libraries, public buildings all had Stickley furniture in use. Over the years we have managed to pick up a piece here and there. The workmanship, functionality, and quality of this furniture manufacturer have always been very high and remain so today.
We are big fans of The Great New York State Fair. We have made the annual trip to the fairgrounds for the last 30 years of our marriage and numerous years prior, with our families. The fair takes place just outside of Syracuse not far from Fayetteville, NY home of the Stickley Museum. We have always wanted to make time to stop but could never seem to coordinate when it was open. This time visiting the area would be different, we put it on our schedule and made the time to go.
The Museum
I wasn’t sure what to expect. The museum is located on the upper level of the Fayetteville Public Library. As we pulled up it was housed in
what looked like an old factory building with a new addition for the Library. The library and museum operate out of what was the former L. & J.G. Stickley factory. The building was in use by the company from 1900 until 1985 when we moved just a stone’s throw down the road to Manlius, New York. But did you know that there has been a furniture business on this site dating back to as early as the Civil War? In the 1860s the Collin family had their furniture company on these premises.
With the Ledyard Dyke nearby to provide water power, the location made an ideal place for a furniture business. Unfortunately, as was commonplace during this era, there were multiple fires and the building had to be rebuilt in 1888. In 1900 Leopold Stickley purchased the building and began operating his L. & J.G. Stickley business from the factory. The building itself is still full of history- handwritten notes on the walls mark the first snow (workers in 1907 saw snow in May!) and tattered cutouts of scantily clad Victorian ladies still line some of the walls near where workbenches used to be.
The Library
We entered the Library and made our way over to the elevator that was to take us to the Museum. The floor leading to the elevator had numerous Stickley chairs, tables, and end tables being used by the Library as seating and café furniture. This frankly took us by surprise seeing so many pieces and how they were being used. What would be so natural for the locals looked so unreal to us? We entered the elevator and pushed level 2. The door opens, and we are greeted by a gentleman our age I feel. Hugh smile and was incredibly happy to see us. He introduces himself as Michael Danial the Corporate Historian and that he was subbing for the regular curator.
Backstage At Stickley
What happened next could only be described as a “backstage” look at the museum. Here is a man who not only was the historian for the 
company and museum, he put it the display together. Michael worked for Stickley from the ground up for the last 40 years. His knowledge of the pieces we were looking at was filled with fantastic descriptions and storylines. His specialty was re-finishing and he had worked on a number of the pieces. We spent over two hours listening to his stories and the history of the company riveted by everything he said. I have never thought of ourselves as collectors of Stickley Furniture. We bought the pieces because we always felt the quality was second to none and we loved the mission design. We had been referred to as collectors but did not feel that way. I am now very interested in learning more about the furniture and possibly start to collect a few more pieces to fill out our current “collection” of furniture. I also want to take better care of what we have. We ended our tour overwhelmed by the experience we had just enjoyed, simply amazing.
To find out more about The Stickley Museum come to visit them any Tuesday 11:30-5:00 or Saturday 10:00-5:00. Can’t make it during those times? Give them a call to schedule an appointment!
