Guide to Ethan Allen Furniture

The Ethan Allen furniture phenomenon began as a small boutique warehouse during the Great Depression.  The company was launched by Nathan Ancell and Theodore Baumritter on October 1, 1932.  Within just a few years, Baumritter & Co. had expanded into a major furniture producer situated in Beecher Falls, Vermont. 

By the end of the decade, the company was on its way to creating a flagship dealership network. Four years later, the company had nearly a dozen plants working to create colonial-style furnishings.  In 1954, the company executives provided President Eisenhower with a chest to celebrate the millionth piece of furniture to come off the assembly line.

Ethan Allen has been a pioneer in terms of conceptual furniture selling.  The company launched its Treasury of Home Interiors catalog in 1962 and developed the idea of showcasing new wares in the context of other furniture--a concept that other major furniture retailers, such as the Sweden-based IKEA Company, have bowered.  Ethan Allen has been run for more than 20 years by a man named Farooq Kathwari, who has been with Ethan Allen since 1973.

In the early 1990s, Ethan Allen divided its home furnishing goods into four major groups.  Casual Contemporary focuses now on more modern styling.  Classic Elegance and American Country recall the Colonial Era (e.g. four post beds).  Finally, the Formal Ethan Allen collection targets higher tiered markets.  The company went public in March 1993, and its stock split numerous times, rewarding investors and encouraging more international awareness of the Ethan Allen brand.