today’s flandora is another WTF

When I made this pipe, I knew the image output would likely consist of nothing more than randomness, so I don’t know why I try to figure out how the images and descriptions relate to anything from my Pandora stations.

So, today’s image is Cooper Chair Mill - Bergenfield, NJ by tschopper and here’s some interesting info he wrote up about the image (my first trip to Bergenfield was in the 70’s:)

David Demarest originally purchased the site of the chair factory. The Demarest family first arrived in America in 1663. They were Dutch Huguenots and settled in Staten Island before moving to northeastern New Jersey. This site was under ownership of the Demarest family until 1758.

Between 1785 and May 2, 1840 the property changed hands several times until it was sold to Richard Tunis Cooper and his wife Effie Huyler. The seller, Fredrick Mabie, had developed the site in the early 18th century and had constructed a gristmill on Long Swap Brook, a frame house, and a barn. Richard Tunis Cooper by trade was a chair maker and continued his trade at the site.

On January 2, 1849, Richard’s son, Tunis Richard Cooper bought the property from his father and developed a very profitable chair making business. He converted the gristmill into a saw mill. The business flourished between 1859 and 1863. Besides the site in what is now Bergenfield, the Coopers’s had a nine story warehouse and showroom at 442 Pearl Street in New York City. The chairs were shipped through out the east coast.

In 1860, the Cooper Chair Factory was the largest industry in Hackensack Township employing 25 workers. The business started to decline in 1863 when the New York showroom closed. Some contributing factors for the decline may have been the economics of the Civil War and suspected embezzlement by Tunis R. Cooper’s son-in-law, Peter Banta. Peter Banta was drafted during the Civil War but never returned and is believed to have gone west to avoid scandal.

The manufacturing of chairs ended in 1894, seven years after the death of Tunis R. Cooper. The entire property was divided and his son, Henry Cooper, inherited the section with the factory. In 1897 Henry Cooper sold the property to Oscar Martin, a toymaker. Oscar Martin remained the owner until 1908 when he sold it to a piano maker, Amos Bergman. Mr. Bergman died in 1948 and left the property to his housekeeper, Daisy Coringrato. In 1949 she sold it to Alec and Catherine Marchbank. Alec Marchbank, a New York City wool importer worked to preserve the property because of its historical significance. In 1995 he was able to place the property on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.

When Alec Marchbank died in 1997, the Borough of Bergenfield would not allow this important part of American history to go the way of development. In 2004 the Borough of Bergenfield was able to purchase the property and four remaining buildings. It is the intent of the Borough of Bergenfield to restore and preserve this important part of American industrial history.

The property is listed on the National & State Registers of Historic Places. Currently the site is not open to the General Public due to the condition of most of the buildings. Plans are to stabilize, to eventually restore, and maybe create a Welcome Center for the Begernfield Museum Society so the site can be opened for limited tours.

The Welcome / Museum Center would provide the public with information detailing the development on manufacturing in Bergen County and the history of the Tunis R. Cooper Chair Factory. The Borough of Bergenfield will work with the Bergenfield Museum Society and Bergen County Museum to establish displays of interest to the public. Long term planning seeks to create a Living Museum on the site.