May 17, 2012Keye's Carpenter Shop
Located at 315 North Main Street
Royal Keyes, a carpenter and cabinet maker, came to Jamestown in 1816 from Newfane, Vermont, and erected at the southwest corner of Main and Fourth Streets a small two-story carpenter shop. He was a house builder and devoted a major part of his time to that employment. In his spar time, however, he made simple articles of furniture. He soon hired a journeyman cabinet maker and increased his furniture making. This was the beginning of furniture making in appreciable quantities in Jamestown. When the volume was sufficient, the surplus was shipped to southern markets upon rafts and later by flatboats.
William Breed joined Keyes in 1820 and three years later, William’s brother, John, bought out Keyes. Breed Brothers continued for fifty years as the largest manufacturer of furniture in the county.
KEYES' CARPENTER SHOP
Here in 1816, Royal Keyes, cabinet maker, erected a small carpenter shop. In its second story he made simple articles of furniture for the pioneer community. From this small beginning grew the great furniture industry of Jamestown.