For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara O’Keeffe
608-261-9596
kara.okeeffe@wisconsinhistory.org

August 30, 2018

Wisconsin Historical Society Placed the Schweiger Industries Plant III on the State Register of Historic Places

Jefferson, Wis. - The Wisconsin Historical Society placed the Schweiger Industries Plant III (Jefferson, Jefferson County) on the State Register of Historic Places on August 17, 2018. State Historic Preservation Officer Jim Draeger presents a certificate to Rachel Firgens and Rachel Barnhart.

Schweiger Industries Plant III, built in stages between 1916 and 1975, is representative of the important furniture making industry that thrived in Jefferson during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Schweiger Industries manufactured furniture in several different buildings in Jefferson; the other buildings from the company’s historic period have been demolished.  The subject building is where innovative furniture models were manufactured and housed production integral to the larger Schweiger enterprise making this the best representation of the company’s important history.  Owned and operated by local entrepreneur Benjamin Schweiger and his nephew successors, by the early 1970s Schweiger Industries was the largest employer in Jefferson County and ranked third in the United States in furniture manufacturing. The company manufactured lounge chairs, chair and sofa frames, sectional couches, stuffed upholstered living room furniture, as well as sofa beds and murphy beds.  Schweiger Industries, a group of affiliated manufacturing concerns, under a single owner, together formed the largest upholstered furniture manufacturing company in Wisconsin during the post-World War II period.  This building helps illustrate the history of this important industry in Jefferson.

The State Register is Wisconsin's official list of state properties determined to be significant to Wisconsin's heritage. The State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society administers both the State Register and National Register in Wisconsin.

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visitwww.wisconsinhistory.org.

About Wisconsin Historical Society

The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.

##