This chair is exceedingly rare, manufactured by the Old Hickory Company in Martinsville, Indiana. Based on the stamp, it appears to have been manufactured sometime in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. The quality of this company’s craftsmanship was like no other, and this chair is no exception, with tongue and groove joints and wooden nails. It has been preserved in amazing condition, with only one very small scrape on the arm (see picture). You won’t find another one like it.HISTORY OF THE HICKORY CHAIR COMPANY:In the 1890s, Billy Richardson started selling hickory chairs and rockers on Saturdays on the town square in Martinsville, Indiana. Legend has it that Richardson and his father had made hickory chairs and rockers for the President Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage many years earlier.Others in the Martinsville area studied Richardson's products and banded together in 1892 in an abandoned church, producing hickory sapling furniture as a full-time business. They chose the name "Old Hickory" for the new company, the same nickname as the late President Jackson.
When the company incorporated in 1899, a full line of products were available for shipping across the country to homes and resorts. Old Hickory furniture became so popular that it was going to the new National Park Lodges in the West as well as Great Camps and resorts in the Adirondack Park. The most famous installation was the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. The original dining chairs that were shipped in 1904 are still in use today over 110 years later.