Mid Century Modern Furniture Broyhill

Broyhill Furniture Industries was launched in Lenoir, North Carolina by brothers Thomas H. and James Edgar “Ed” Broyhill. Ed had been working for his brother’s furniture manufacturing company, the Lenoir Furniture Corporation, which produced bedroom furnishings in the 1920s, when a nearby supplier’s factory, Bernhardt Chair Company, burned in a fire. Ed founded Lenoir Chair Company and expanded its operations while remaining an employee at Lenoir Furniture Corporation. He subsequently partnered with Thomas and together they purchased Harper Furniture Company, a local producer of Colonial style furniture, in 1929. By the 1940s, Broyhill Furniture Industries had absorbed more factories and gained footing as a strong competitor of Lenoir’s Kent-Coffey Manufacturing Company and a rebuilt Bernhardt Furniture.