929 Wabash Avenue
Terre Haute, IN 47807
(812) 232-9659
The History Of Glidden Furniture & Our Historical Building
Welcome to Glidden Furniture!
Exactly What You're looking For In A Furniture Store
Glidden Furniture is a family owned business located in the historic Ehrmann Manufacturing building in downtown Terre Haute, Indiana. For over 40 years the Glidden family has been dedicated to providing the finest selection of brand name furniture in the Greater Wabash Valley area and surrounding communities....and always with FREE DELIVERY.
Bill and Joanne Glidden officially opened the doors of Glidden Furniture in October 1970. On opening day, in honor of the American Dream, Bill and Joanne proudly displayed the American flag at our entryway. This became a tradition and the American flag has been displayed daily for over four decades. The Glidden family believes in the craftsmanship and quality of the American-Worker so while browsing our web site or visiting our showroom you will find many Built-In-America companies represented. American-built upholstery goods by Broyhill, BEST Home Furnishings, Smith Brothers of Berne, King Hickory and Franklin are available in stock or can easily be customized to meet your decorating needs. Solid wood furniture is also available from American-Built companies such as Brooks Furniture, Vaughan-Bassett, Crawford of Jamestown, Conrad Grebel and Daniel's Amish Collection. And, don't forget about our American-Built mattress department. Glidden Furniture displays a large selection of mattresses by the world-renown companies of Jamison Bedding and Sealy Posturpedic. Chances are, if you've ever slept at a Marriott, LaQuinta Inn & Suites, Best Western or several other hotel establishments and had a great night's sleep, then you probably slept on a Jamison mattress!
For over four decades...and with approximately 175 years of combined experience...the Glidden family has earned a reputation of offering quality furniture at value prices...and always with FREE DELIVERY. In 1971, Bill and Joanne's son, Roy, began working summers in the family business at the age of 14. Roy continues to oversee Glidden Furniture's FREE DELIVERY service. Daughters, Cathy and Kristi, joined the staff a few years later. Cathy meticulously oversees all back office operations and Kristi oversees the Glidden Furniture sales associates and is the buyer for our showroom. Bill Glidden, renown as a furniture-expert, continues at 76 years young to oversee the day-to-day operations of Glidden Furniture.
Historical Interest Of The Glidden Furniture Showroom
The Glidden Furniture showroom was built by the Ehrmann family and was originally a sewing plant called Ehrmann Manufacturing Company. The company sewed overalls and children's clothing. Max Ehrmann, world-renown for his poem, Desiderata, and other works, was the credit manager for the Ehrmann Manufacturing Company. In 1913, during a strike at the Ehrmann Manufacturing Company, Emil Ehrmann, Max's eldest brother, shot and killed a man during an altercation at the front door. To read more about the historical perspective of our building and Emil Ehrmann's trial, scroll down or click here. To read more about Max Ehrmann and the world famous words of Desiderata, click here.
MAX EHRMANN: ‘A rare man’ ... one of Terre Haute’s most memorable
By Mark Bennett
Reprinted from The Tribune Star Sat Sep 05, 2009 www.tribstar.com
TERRE HAUTE — Max Ehrmann walked around Terre Haute for months with a masterpiece in the pocket of his dapper jacket.
His smiling face, impeccable attire and gold-knobbed walking stick were familiar images to folks in his hometown. He’d tip his derby hat to ladies as he strolled past.
“Chivalry was a rare quality among local men,” an elderly woman told the Terre Haute Star in 1972, “but then, Max Ehrmann was a rare man.”
The poem stored in Ehrmann’s pocket in the 1920s would prove that statement decades later.
By 1927, Ehrmann had left his law practice and a family business(where Glidden’s Furniture is currently located at 929 Wabash Avenue) to pursue his passion — writing — and produced a prolific repertoire of poems. He wrote in prose style, ruminating and philosophizing without rhymes. Some of his offerings received notoriety, such as “A Prayer” from 1906. But Ehrmann’s choice to stay in the small Indiana city where he was born, instead of New York or Chicago, limited his exposure in the literary world. Ehrmann was 55 years old when he began constructing a 314-word piece of advice.
He called it “Desiderata,” a Latin word meaning “desired things.” Its passages urged people to see the world’s beauty and troubles through wise, hopeful and unjaded eyes. Ehrmann wrote it for himself, “because it counsels those virtues I felt most in need of,” he once recalled. But years after the poet’s death in 1945, “Desiderata” became an iconic life mantra for millions throughout the planet.
“A lot of people pattern their lives after it,” said Marylee Hagan, executive director of the Vigo County Historical Museum.
Ehrmann’s poetic blueprint for contentment gained new life, by accident, in 1965. That year, former Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson died in a London hotel, and a copy of “Desiderata” was found on the nightstand. A story in the New York Times explained that Stevenson planned to use “Desiderata” in personalized Christmas cards to loved ones that year. The poem’s popularity surged.
Unfortunately, Ehrmann received no recognition at that moment. The copy at Stevenson’s bedside was a reprint of a reprint, inaccurately attributing the poem to an unknown, 17th-century author. That mixup became almost as legendary as the poem itself.
Ehrmann’s widow, Bertha Pratt King, in 1948 published a collection of his works, simply titled “The Poems of Max Ehrmann.” In 1959, a rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore discovered “Desiderata” and distributed about 300 copies in the pews. Those reprints made by the Rev. Frederick Kates contained no mention of the original poet. Instead, the letterhead above the poem read: “Found in Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Baltimore, dated 1692.”
Those unattributed mimeographs spread and multiplied, and the public assumed “Desiderata” came from a long-gone, anonymous philosopher. Even advice columnist Ann Landers reprinted the poem as an unknown work. Nameless versions showed up on posters hanging on college students’ dorm room walls. Ehrmann had become a guru to the peace-and-love generation, without receiving credit. Finally, in the early 1970s, after protracted efforts by Robert L. Bell — a Boston publisher who actually owned the “Desiderata” copyright — Ehrmann’s name was properly reattached to his now-beloved poem.
Desiderata got etched into pop culture immortality in late 1971, when Los Angeles disc jockey Les Crane recorded a spoken-word version of “Desiderata,” backed by soaring background singers and instrumentation. That single reached No. 8 on the Billboard charts, and earned Crane a Grammy Award. Soon, famous folks like Johnny Cash, Bing Crosby and Vincent Price were reciting Ehrmann’s lines on national TV. It was so popular, that parodies even showed up, including the bitingly funny “Deteriorata” by National Lampoon.
Even though that pinnacle moment for “Desiderata” passed, its timeless message survives 82 years after Ehrmann had it copyrighted. Astute Johnny Depp fans will notice the poem’s presence in his 2007 movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” In it, free-spirited pirate Jack Sparrow (played by Depp) has “Desiderata” tattooed onto his back.
Fellow Terre Haute native Eugene V. Debs predicted Ehrmann’s writing would stand the test of time. In a 1918 letter to Ehrmann, the legendary social justice leader wrote, “Your poet-soul is certain to find immortal expression.” The fame Ehrmann found often is more noticed beyond Terre Haute, the city he called “the world in miniature.”
Historical Perspective of Our Building: Part I
By Mike McCormick
Reprinted from The Tribune Star, May 24, 2008 www.tribstar.com
TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute’s rank as a major clothing manufacturer has been forgotten and the memory of the triumphs and tragedies associated with it have faded as well.
Though Bernard “Ben” Kuppenheimer, nationally renown fabricator of fine men’s wear, began his business career as a Terre Haute clothier in 1850, Austrian immigrant Charles Zimmerman probably is the true patriarch of Vigo County garment makers.
Kuppenheimer maintained a retail clothing store in downtown Terre Haute until 1866, when he accepted an opportunity to join a large Chicago firm. He founded B. Kuppenheimer & Co., a leading manufacturer of men’s ready-made clothes, in 1876.
A weaver in Austria, Zimmerman worked at the Vigo Woolen Mill upon locating in Terre Haute but moved to Tuscola, Ill., to open a general store.
In 1868, with aid from his widowed daughter Rosa Urban, Zimmerman designed an overall with a “bib.” Demand for his innovative new pants was so substantial that, three years later, he was compelled to return to the larger population base in Terre Haute for more employees. Rosa married Carl Stahl and, after Zimmerman’s death, the business name was changed to Stahl, Urban & Co.
Samuel Frank, a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, came to Terre Haute in 1860. For a while, he operated a general store near Third and Wabash. Then he founded a downtown retail clothing store with Louis Rothchild.
In 1876, Frank & Rothchild began making men’s work clothes on the second floor above its store at the southwest corner of Fourth and Wabash. Frank ultimately bought out Rothchild and the firm became known as Samuel Frank & Sons. Maurice and Theodore Frank carried on the legacy.
Emil E. Ehrmann, Terre Haute native and oldest brother of Wabash Valley poet laureate Max Ehrmann, was a salesman for Zimmerman before uniting with his brother Albert to found Ehrmann Manufacturing Co.
The Ehrmanns’ work clothes factory thrived and the brothers built the three-story building at 929-933 Wabash Ave., now occupied by Glidden Furniture Co.
Coincidentally, edifices occupied by the other pioneer major clothing manufacturers also survive. For more than 40 years, Stahl, Urban & Co. was situated at 920-928 Ohio St., built in 1892 by Herman Hulman Sr. The current structure at that address, built after a 1905 fire destroyed the first building, is occupied by WTHI.
Samuel Frank & Sons erected the building at 508-510 Ohio St. as its primary manufacturing facility. It is now utilized by Woodburn Printing. The Franks also had a factory at Ninth and Eagle streets for several years and later built a plant at 315-325 N. 14th St. which Stahl, Urban & Co. used for warehousing after Samuel Frank & Sons closed.
There were other important Terre Haute garment manufacturers in subsequent years, including Havens & Geddes, Cotton Foods Manufacturing Co., Lamb Manufacturing Co., J.T. White, Packard Shirt Co. and the Theodore Rich Co.
But “The Big Three,” which thrived in both the late 19th century and early 20th century, were the pioneers.
Between 750 and 1,000 families relied upon income derived from those firms. It is difficult to get a handle on precise numbers. Most garment workers were women and many worked out of their homes, receiving pay by piecework.
The garment industry was in a constant state of turmoil. Labor unions accused many factories of operating “sweat shops” and exploiting poverty-stricken women. Labor leaders lobbied for anti-sweat shop legislation.
In the early 20th century, national advertising imposed a need to better supervise the labor process of fine garments. As a result, outside “independent contractors” were brought into the factory and labeled “inside contractors” to avoid obligations imposed upon the employer-employee relationship and union affiliation.
On Jan. 8, 1913, the female garment workers employed by Ehrmann Manufacturing Co. walked out to protest a wage reduction. The strike had dire consequences.
No national garment workers union existed locally at the time so the Central Labor Union took up the fight. A grievance committee consisting of cigarmakers Byron Martin and Philip K. Reinbold and barber Lewis McCoy met several times with the Ehrmann brothers and Fred Reckert, general manager and the Ehrmanns’ brother-in-law, without success.
Local unions affiliated with Terre Haute’s Central Labor Union assessed each employee 10 cents a week to provide support for the striking women.
Tempers frequently flared as former employees and others walked through picket lines in front of the factory. The Ehrmanns complained about a lack of police protection.
On Monday, May 26, Max Howard, husband of one of the strikebreakers, allegedly slapped the face of 20-year-old garment worker Cora Dunham, a picketer, during a confrontation as he was attempting to escort his wife through the picket line.
The next day, Miss Donham allegedly notified fellow picketers that she intended to “slap back the man who slapped her.” When Howard and his wife appeared at the door at closing hour, Donham initiated a verbal assault.
Two men sympathetic to the picketers, teamster Edward Wade and restaurant employee “Juck” Byrd, ran toward the antagonists. Wade shoved Howard, yelling, “Strike a man, not a woman!”
Byrd said Wade had “his arm drawn back to hit Howard” when Emil Ehrmann opened the factory door and fired one fatal shot into Wade’s chest. As the wounded man fell, Ehrmann, Reckert and the Howards went into the building and locked the door.
A dozen policemen were at the scene within minutes. Several were en route to be present when the shift ended. Officers found Ehrmann and Reckert inside the door with Reckert holding a smoking Smith & Wesson revolver. Both were placed under arrest.
Wade was carried to Harry C. Randel’s Drug Store at the southwest corner of Ninth and Wabash, where he was pronounced dead.
En route to the Vigo County jail, Ehrmann told Captain of Detectives Matt Dorley that he had fired the deadly shot.
“I shot in self-defense,” Ehrmann said.
On May 29, 1913, a Vigo County grand jury indicted the president of Ehrmann Manufacturing Co. (and the brother of poet Max Ehrmann) for the murder of Edward Wade.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Part II
By Mike McCormick
Reprinted from The Tribune Star, May 31, 2008 www.tribstar.com
TERRE HAUTE — Emil E. Ehrmann, indicted on May 29, 1913 for first degree murder as the result of the death of Edward Wade, was one of Terre Haute’s most successful business men.
The second-oldest son of Max and Margaret Barbara (Lutz) Ehrmann, Emil was born in Terre Haute on June 5, 1868.
He attended public schools but withdrew before graduating from high school to take a course in bookkeeping and landed a job at the Buckeye Cash Store. He later was a traveling salesman for garment maker Charles Zimmerman, inventor of bib overalls and the founder of Stahl, Urban & Co.
From rather humble surroundings, the Ehrmann brothers prospered.
In 1886, Emil established Ehrmann Manufacturing Co., fabricators of work clothes, in partnership with his brother Albert.
Oldest brother Charles became active in management of the garment business though he already president of Ehrmann Packing Co., Ehrmann Coal Co., West Terre Haute Bank and Central Building & Loan Association.
The community of Ehrmanndale was platted in Nevins Township near mines owned by the Ehrmann family.
Youngest brother Max Ehrmann, a lawyer who devoted most of his time to literary endeavors, handled collections for Ehrmann Manufacturing Co.
Emil and Albert Ehrmann not only owned the building occupied by Ehrmann Manufacturing at 929-933 Wabash Ave. but also the structure leased to Kleeman Dry Goods Co. at the southeast corner of Sixth and Wabash.
On April 30, 1885, Tillie Ehrmann — the oldest sibling — married Fred Reckert, a native of Boonville, Ind. Ten years later, Reckert was made a principal in Ehrmann Manufacturing Co. and became its general manager.
Though he maintained a residence at 711 Chestnut St., Emil acquired the former site of Fort Harrison and spent considerable expense restoring and improving that historic property, building a summer home there.
A bachelor, he traveled extensively throughout North America and, in 1900, circled the globe. Upon his return, he was a popular speaker at civic and fraternal functions.
In 1911, Emil began spending winters in Jacksonville, Fla. and tried to interest national, state and city park commissioners in purchasing the Fort Harrison property to make it a historic preserve.
On Sept. 4, 1912, on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Harrison, Ehrmann extended every courtesy to the committee in charge of the grand pageant conducted on the grounds. The property was listed for sale for $55,000. City park commissioners balked at the price and condemnation proceedings were contemplated.
When Emil returned to Terre Haute from Jacksonville about May 10, the strike already was four months old. He roomed at the Great Northern Hotel. Brother Albert was not in the city; he was in Paris, France, studying art.
Though there was constant acrimony between strikers and the strikebreakers, few incidents were made public until a week before the shooting. On at least two occasions bicycle police officer William Huffman was dispatched to escort workers home.
On one of those occasions, Huffman noted, Reckert in particular seemed under considerable stress. Neither Ehrmann nor Reckert felt the police was doing all it could do to secure the safety of strikebreakers.
To soothe wounds, on Sunday, May 25, Chief of Police Daniel Fasig made Ehrmann, Reckert and night watchman Willis Cooper special policemen.
A tense crowd packed the Vigo Circuit Court room the day after the shooting. Author-attorney Max Ehrmann joined the legal defense team which included Terre Haute lawyers Finley McNutt, Harry Wallace, Everett Sanders, Carson Hamill and John Hickey.
Prosecutor Richard A. Werneke and Deputy Prosecutors Frank J. Foley, Albert R. Owens and Arthur J. Thomas were assisted by attorney Joseph Roach, hired by the Central Labor Union, and Charles C. Whitlock, retained by the Teamsters.
Judge Charles M. Fortune issued an order re-impaneling a special grand jury that issued murder indictments a week earlier against William Record and John Shelby for the death of Joseph Gilbert. Clothing merchant Lee Goodman was foreman.
Werneke called more than 30 witnesses. On May 29, 1913, the jury returned an indictment for murder in the first degree against Ehrmann but released Reckert. Ehrmann was served at the jail by deputy sheriffs Pete J. Feiler and Charles Shattuck. At the time, he was conversing with August Bader of the Bader Hotel.
No bond was set. To assure Ehrmann’s safety, he was transported by Feiler and Deputy Sheriff James Carlos to the Marion County jail in Indianapolis on Saturday, May 31, where he spent the night. Meanwhile, on Friday widow Mary Wade filed a civil lawsuit against Ehrmann seeking $10,000 in monetary damages.
He remained in jail for over a month. Evidence was presented all day Saturday, July 5, on the defendant’s motion for bond. Though bond rarely was available in first degree murder cases, testimony by James Collings, teller at McKeen National Bank, seemed to support the defendant's contention that Wade was wielding a billy club at the time he was shot.
After Saturday’s hearing, Ehrmann collapsed at the Vigo County jail, suffering from the intense heat. He was treated by Dr. Thomas Stunkard. No evidence was taken Monday morning, July 7, so attorneys and the judiciary could attend the funeral of Herman Hulman.
When the hearing resumed Monday afternoon, Walter A. Wilson, a foreman for Union Transfer Co. and a former tenant at the Wade residence at 41 S. 11th St., took the stand to identify the billy club as being the one kept by Wade at his home.
The hearing continued through Wednesday, ending abruptly when Judge Fortune declared that he would release Ehrmann upon the posting of a $25,000 bond.
The decision, made over vehement objections by the state, may have been swayed by the testimony of 19-year old Harry Keife, a clerk at Hulman & Co. Though Keife did not witness the shooting, he said that he rolled the victim over and discovered a billy club attached to his wrist by a leather strap.
On July 9, 1913, Emil Ehrmann walked away the from Vigo County jail.
Historical Perspective: Conclusion
When the defense began presenting evidence in the first-degree murder case against Terre Haute businessman Emil E. Ehrmann on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1914, 17 witnesses vowed under oath that Edward Wade was wielding a billy club at the time he was fatally shot on May 27, 1913.
The interrogations were carefully crafted to extract testimony supporting the defendant’s fear for his life and property.
Several witnesses saw a billy either strapped to Wade’s arm, or next to his body, as he laid on the pavement with smoke and blood gushing from a gaping chest wound.
Others testified that Wade owned a billy similar to the one introduced into evidence.
Over strenuous objection, Judge Barton S. Aikman allowed August Boyer, plant superintendent of Ehrmann Manufacturing Co., to testify that, before Ehrmann pulled the trigger, Wade struck him on the shoulder with “a billy.”
Boyer said he was inside the Ehrmann factory only a few feet behind the corporate president when the fatal shot was fired.
West Terre Haute coal miner John Deagan described how Wade struck Ehrmann on the shoulder and drew back to strike him a second time before the shot was fired.
Deagan overheard Wade declare to a striking woman, “I’ll fix him,” before stepping in front of Ehrmann.
Tony Brooks, a supervisor at the Ehrmann plant, also was standing behind Ehrmann at the time of the shooting and testified that he saw a short man weighing about 150 pounds strike Emil on the left shoulder. However, he could not tell if the assailant was using a billy club.
The defense attempted to use Brooks to introduce an explosive allegedly found on the roof of the garment factory several weeks before the shooting. However, Judge Aikman denied its admission until an expert declared it was safe.
That expert witness was Dr. John White, chemistry professor at Rose Polytechnic. Dr. White testified that he examined the cylindrical object made of brown paper with a neck two to three inches long in early April 1913 at the request of Fred Reckert, Jr.
After testing its yellow crystallized powder, White concluded that the object was filled with the explosive picric acid. “I would call that object ‘a bomb,’” Dr. White said.
If detonated on the roof of the Ehrmann garment factory, White predicted, the bomb would create a hole “eight to ten inches in diameter.”
Employee Harriet Cooper, wife of the former night watchman at Ehrmann Manufacturing Co., said she was inside the factory only two feet from Wade at the time of the shooting. She said Wade struck Ehrmann before the shooting but could not confirm that he had a weapon in his hand at the time.
Several witnesses testified they saw a man later identified as Wade “elbow his way” through a throng, estimated by various witnesses to be between 50 and 200 people, surrounding the entryway to reach the door at 929-933 Wabash Ave.
Other witnesses claimed that before the fatal shot, there was scuffling or fighting among components of the crowd in efforts to reach the vestibule of the garment factory.
Witnesses affirmed that Wade’s shirt was on fire after the shot. Terre Haute gunsmith Edward Tetzel testified that Wade had to be standing within three inches of the nose of the Smith & Wesson revolver to have the discharge create such a fire.
Fred Reckert, Sr., general manager of Ehrmann Manufacturing, recited how he had returned to the factory to protect employees from attacks by strikers after going home.
“I saw Cora Donham make a rush toward Max Howard.” he said. “I was struck three times: once on the shoulder, once on the chin and then someone kicked my shins.”
Night watchman Willis Cooper, the next-to-last witness for the defense, testified that he was hit in the face by an unruly member of the crowd while standing next to Ehrmann. He also saw Wade strike Ehrmann, while yelling, “You’re the one I’m after.”
Fred Reckert Jr., the defense’s final witness, spent all afternoon Oct. 15 testifying but did not break much new ground. The primary purpose of his testimony, it seemed, was summarization.
In rebuttal, the state introduced Louisville fireworks manufacturer Tony Delgrande, who asserted he made the “aerial salute” identified as a bomb by Dr. White. Delgrande sold fireworks to Terre Haute Moose for a lodge celebration March 13, 1913 and personally launched the salute from the roof of Germania Hall at 18-20 S. Ninth St.
Several rebuttal witnesses testified that Wade did not have a billy club. One was James Colescott, night clerk for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, who saw Wade lying on the sidewalk but did not see a billy club at or near his body. Several years later, that witness was known as Dr. James A. Colescott, the Terre Haute veterinarian who was installed as the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in 1939.
The two final witnesses for the state were the victim’s widow Blanche and his 11-year old daughter, Cleo Gertrude. Both denied that the billy club introduced into evidence was ever owned or possessed by Wade. Mrs. Wade said the only billy club possessed by her husband was owned by Edward’s brother, Roy.
Blanche also testified that the civil lawsuit filed on her behalf against Ehrmann the day after the shooting was initiated without her consent.
Though large crowds were present each day of trial, the Parke Circuit Court room was completely packed for three days of final arguments commencing Oct. 20. Four lawyers from each side alternately addressed the jury: Charles Whitlock, Charles Sunkel, Joseph Roach and Albert J. Kelley for the State; and Jacob White, Finley McNutt, Carson Hamill and Howard Maxwell for the defendant Ehrmann.
The jury received the case at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 23. Two ballots later, with dinner provided between polls, the jury found Ehrmann not guilty. It was 8:30 p.m.
With notoriety extending beyond political boundaries, the case took a large emotional toll. Before the trial began, Ehrmann leased his Fort Harrison acreage to a group that founded the Fort Harrison County Club. Years later it was acquired by the Elks.
Edward Wade’s daughter Gertrude wed Indianapolis fireman William F. Robbins in Terre Haute on Sept. 30, 1920.
Emil Ehrmann died March 12, 1946, about six months after his talented younger brother Max passed away.