My grandfather, Lyman Porter Andrews, worked at Heywood-Wakefield in Gardner. There’s a lot of history to be found about Heywood-Wakefield, and the recognizable style and everlasting quality furniture that still exists in so many homes in Gardner and beyond.
I have a 1947 copy of a publication called Shop News that was passed down from my grandmother Violet Rose Turgiss Andrews, through my father, Charles Andrews, and is now displayed in my library. Shop News was a Heywood-Wakefield company publication and everyone looked forward to the annual children’s edition. I’ve included below scans of the 15 pages of the Sons and Daughters of Heywood-Wakefield for 1947. Every page has a last name I recognize, or a person I’ve heard of throughout local history.
Here’s my connection to Heywood-Wakefield, my father and his siblings Mary Andrews Chipman, Edith Andrews Kosakowski and Walter Andrews in the Sons and Daughters of Heywood-Wakefield for 1947.
Sharing here since there are so many local kids (they were kids in 1947!) and I bet a lot of you know someone in these photos. Glancing through the pages, the first picture I looked at happened to be my Baldwinville Elementary School kindergarten teacher, Mr. Sans! That guy is a legend, but in 1947, he was a baby of the Heywood-Wakefield family. In fact, according to a headline in this publication, ‘Babies Are Little Rivets In The Bonds of Matrimony’. That’s a lot to unpack, and probably not ok to say these days. I’d love to hear from you about your connection to any of these photos. I enjoy local history, and having lived here since 1970 (my entire life), I find it fun looking at these photos.
Origin of Heywood-Wakefield (from heywoodwakefield.com)
“In 1897, two prominent furniture companies, Heywood Brothers (est. 1826) and Wakefield Company (est. 1855) merged to create Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Company; the name would be shortened to Heywood-Wakefield in 1921. The new company rose to particular popularity in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s with its Art Deco-inspired Mid-Century Modern furniture. Though once one of the largest furniture manufacturers in America, the company succumbed to the pressures of changing tastes, rising costs and competition from overseas manufacturing and ceased operations in 1981.”
Here’s a link to the Heywood-Wakefield history, including my very recent discovery that three people acquired the rights to the Heywood-Wakefield name in 1992, one of which was a furniture executive named Leonard Riforgiato. In 2022, Leonard sold his share of the business to Tom Belletete, a third generation Massachusetts furniture maker who has been building for Heywood-Wakefield since 2012, and that Heywood-Wakefield inspired furniture is being made today, very locally, in Winchendon.
