The Douglas Furniture Company was founded at the turn of the century by Samuel A. Cohen and his wife Libby as the Douglas Park Moving and Storage Company, named for the Company's proximity to Douglas Park in Chicago. While operating their moving and storage business, Sam and Libby found that their customers often left unwanted furniture in their homes. Similarly, upon vacating the Company's storage facilities, customers often failed to claim all of their furniture. Libby, who had 20 years of department store experience, began advertising and selling this abandoned furniture, first from the warehouse and later from a separate retail facility.  At this time, there were six Cohen children in the business four sons and two daughters.

By 1921, the business had evolved into a successful retail furniture operation and became Douglas Furniture, with one store on Chicago's West Side. A second store was opened nearby in the early 1930's. Kitchen and dinette sets became the Company's fastest selling items.

In 1931, the Cohen brothers started a small manufacturing operation, initially producing wood kitchen and dinette sets, including those with upholstered booths as well as chairs. The furniture was well accepted and by 1939, the Company moved to a new factory in Cicero, Illinois and began making tables with porcelain tops.

During this time, Douglas contacted the Formica Company, which had begun manufacturing a laminated melamine plastic product that could be used on vertical surfaces such as cabinet doors. Douglas persuaded Formica to invest in a laminating machine that could make the Formica material in sheets large enough to use as table tops when glued to a plywood panel. As a result, in late 1939, Douglas became the first manufacturer to use Formica material on table tops.

While this transaction ended 100 years of exclusive family ownership and management of Douglas, it has provided the Company with the resources necessary to sustain its growth in its second hundred years of operation.

Please visit www.douglasfurniture.com for more information.