Roper Furniture Company

Roper Family, Long Beach House.  My dad James Gordon Roper is in the back, on the right near the pillar.

Today I received a comment on the blog about a piece of furniture from the Roper Furniture Company; it nudged me to dig out the digitized photos I have from that time in the Roper family history.

Growing up, to my knowledge, we had two pieces built by the Roper Furniture Company in the house.  One was a table and the other a grandfather clock.

J.A. Roper Home, Indiana

The Grandfather Clock is rumored to have been built for one of the banks in South Bend or Mishawaka, Indiana.  I've contacted a couple of historical societies there, but haven't had any luck verifying the truth of that rumor.  The family story says it was built and placed inside the bank for a number of years, then moved somewhere into the town square before moving into the Roper family home.  As the Roper Furniture Company moved from Mishawaka, IN to Dixon, IL at some point, and the family moved their residences as well, it's not clear at what point the clock moved into the private residence.

I do know the clock made the move to California when the family, for the most part, moved to Palo Alto.  And I do know that the clock was in my home in Hesperia, CA, moved to Oregon and finally to Washington with me. 

Roper Grandfather Clock, Hesperia, California

The table was in our home in California; unfortunately my mother sold it when we moved to Oregon.  If I'd realized the significance of the table at the time, I would have likely pitched a pre-teen fit in hopes that we could have taken it with us.  My father died when I was 12 and I hadn't yet realized the importance of history or family heirlooms or how much I would mourn the loss of a piece of my father's legacy.  You can't see the feet well in these photos, but they have "claws" on them. 

Christmas 1963

Christmas 1968

I remember as a young child finding that a bit scary, but as I got older they were just part of that table.  I had no idea how significant that detail was in the Roper line.  One of the things I found when going through old photos and boxes of memorabilia was a catalog from the Roper Furniture Company of their dining room furniture.  

Here's two of the tables with claw feet

And one more here.  

 Even the shipping costs from the time!  Wonder how that compares to shipping costs now!


















I also have an envelope I purchased from Ebay with the Roper Furniture Company Logo and postmarks from 1896, and a postcard with a drawing of the factory from 1909.

Thanks for letting me share these with you!