The History of Shelby Williams

1953 Founded in Chicago, Illinois by two individuals who acquired assets of the Great Northern Chair Company in 1954.
1954 Dedicates product line and marketing efforts to the emerging hospitality and food service industry.
1963 Builds production facilities in Morristown, Tennessee (approximately 35,000 square feet).
1965 Acquires Madison Furniture Industries in Canton, Mississippi.
1968 Acquires TriPar Manufacturing Company, a leading manufacturer of stacking banquet seating for the hotel market.
1978 Introduces Rattan and Wicker furniture collection designed exclusively to meet the requirements of the contract industry.
1979 Morristown Foam, a Shelby Williams subsidiary, develops CMHR, state-of-the-art flame retardant polyurethane and sets industry standard.
1979 Sells Morristown Foam Company.
1985 Acquires King Arthur Function Room Furniture Company.
1985 Acquires Sellers-Josephson, a leading vinyl wall covering manufacturer for the hospitality and home furnishing markets.
1987 Acquires Thonet Industries U.S.A. Gebrüder Thonet is the originator of the bentwood process for chair manufacturing and has been in continuous operation since 1830. In the 1920's Thonet introduced furniture designs of the Bauhaus Architects, including, Marcel Breuer, Mart Stam, Anton Lorenz, Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius.
1989 Shelby Williams is awarded contract for guest room, public space, and gaming furniture for the Mirage Hotel, Las Vagas (33,000 pieces exceeding $6 million).
1990 Shelby Williams introduces casino furniture for the rapidly expanding gaming market.
1993 Opens Zacatecas, Mexico manufacturing facility.
1993 Shelby Williams manufacturing and distributing facilities exceed 1.7 million square feet.
1995 Shelby Williams sales force expands to 110 full time professionals and 32 international distributors.
1996 Shelby Williams and Thonet receive order to supply the seating for the dormitories that become the Olympic Village for the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.
1997 Opens state-of-the-art metal finishing system in Morristown, Tennessee facility.
1999 Shelby Williams is acquired by The Falcon Companies of St. Louis, Missouri.
2005 The Falcon Companies becomes Commercial Furniture Group (CFGroup), a privately held company.
2007 Shelby Williams introduced 32 new products at the HD show in Las Vegas.  It was the largest new product introduction in its history.