H.T. Cushman Manufacturing Company

H.T. Cushman Manufacturing Company of North Bennington, Vt., was founded in 1886 by Henry Theodore Cushman (1844-1922) to manufacture household furniture accessories, such as coat and hat racks. The company began making mission style furniture in 1901 and by the 1920s was a highly successful manufacturer of smokers and breakfast sets. It also began making reproductions of colonial furniture in the 1920s but struggled against many other competitors for this market. In 1933, however, Cushman introduced Cushman Colonial Creations, a new line of colonial style furniture designed by Herman DeVries which featured rounded edges and a reddish maple color and proved to be very popular. It was the company's trademark line for three decades. In 1964 the company was acquired by General Interiors which owned several other furniture manufacturers. In 1971 the company's North Bennington plant was sold to Green Mountain Furniture which did not acquire the Cushman name. Green Mountain closed the North Bennington facility in 1980.