My husband and I took a weekend trip down the shore to Virginia Beach a couple of weekends ago. Our intention was to sit on our beachfront balconies and decompress, maybe eat some seafood (great crab cakes, ya know!) and hang out with some new friends. We did all that. But I also found time to hit a thrift store or two and even a garage sale.
At the ONE garage sale I went to that Saturday afternoon, I was delighted to find a seller anxious to rid himself of everything. When I inquired about an old desk, he quoted $2 as the price. When I repeated the price back to him he immediately changed it to $1. Great. But I only had a $100 bill on me. “Load it,” he said.
What I REALLY was interested in was a dresser that had seen better days, with an awkward paint color and missing handles (original or otherwise) and bib on the bottom (which is in one of the drawers). “What about this?” I asked. “Load it,” he replied.
So they loaded both pieces into my rental van and off I went. Two free pieces of furniture. For me. A furniture hoarder, er, collector. What a great day.
Youngsville dresser destined for a new life
This piece was delivered to a furniture dealer in Washington, D.C.
So I bring them home. I start researching. The desk is nondescript and needs a new front/hinged panel. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it/who I’ll pawn it off on.
But the dresser! The first thing I noticed, as they were loading it up even, was that it had a label stapled to the back.
The label indicates that the piece originated at the Youngsville Manufacturing Company, Youngsville, PA. And it was delivered to Hutchison Inc. in Washington, D.C.
Youngsville Manufacturing Company has an interesting past, which includes incorporation in 1835. In 1896 they burned to the ground, and a new building started in 1898. In 1956, Youngsville Manufacturing was destroyed again.
All I was able to find out about Hutchison Inc. is that they were located at 2004-06 Fourteenth St., N.W. in D.C. in 1945. So not much.
What would you guess the age of this little gem to be? I am GUESSING that it is from the ’20s or ’30s. The legs say so but what do I know?
I don’t know what color I’ll paint it or when I’ll even get to it. (I’m a hoarder, ya know.) But its future is bright. Very bright.
Moxy Rants 
You definitely inherited the grandma Benson antique hunting gene.
I know this post was from quite some time ago, but I just ran across it while looking for posts about Youngsville Manufacturing. I have the same dresser, but with the mirror attached! The dresser was my mother’s, and my grandmother’s before that. My grandmother worked for ET Hall Furniture when she was a teenager. The dresser originally belonged to Mrs. Hall, who gave it to my grandmother. I would guess the dresser to be from the 1920s?
ET Hall was in Titusville, PA
Oh how cool! I gave the dresser to my friend’s son. One of these days they’re going to refinish it.
I just picked up a curly maple dresser and “desk” bearing similar tags from Youngsville Manufacturing and delivered to Lasalle and Koch in Toledo, Ohio and another store in Columbus, Ohio. Neither piece has been painted. The dresser legs are similar and the desk is probably a vanity as the mirror brackets match the original screws in the back. The knobs are also maple and appear to be original as the pattern matches the skirt. I hope I am becoming a restorer and not a hoarder because at this stage my husband is still helping me load my car. If I can sell the pieces, he is in!