McRoskey Mattress Company
Private | |
Industry | Mattresses and Box Springs |
Founded | 1899 |
Headquarters | San Francisco, CA, USA |
Website | http://www.mcroskey.com |
The McRoskey Mattress Company is a handmade mattress making firm in San Francisco, CA. Established by two brothers in October 1899, it has been trading continuously ever since, including during the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
History
The company was founded by Edward and Leonard McRoskey.[1] Originally they had arrived in San Francisco as salesmen for a Chicago based engineering firm hoping to sell mattress making equipment to other manufacturers. Instead the McRoskeys decided to set up business for themselves as manufacturers of handmade mattresses.
Only seven years later the city was hit by the earthquake and fire that followed, the company was the only manufacturer of mattresses to survive[2] and as such its products were in much demand by the inhabitants.[3]
Originally situated at the intersection of Harrison and 16th Street, in 1925 the company moved to new premises on Market and Gough Streets, where it remains today, although recently a new manufacturing facility has been opened at 1400 Minnesota St. San Francisco, CA 94107. Even with the new factory the products produced by McRoskey are still handmade.
Ownership
Shortly after the move to Market and Gough, the second generation of McRoskey's, Edward's sons, Leonard and Robert, joined the firm. It is Robert's daughter (and therefore the granddaughter of one of the founders), Robin who heads the firm today.[3]
References
- ↑ Business History: Home Furnishings
- ↑ DeBare, Ilana: "The Great Quake 1906-2006, Businesses weather a century: The small companies that survive adapt but stay true to their roots," San Francisco Chronicle, April 2, 2006
- 1 2 Ryan, Joan: "A San Francisco Bed-Time Story: At the McRoskey Airflex Mattress Co. at Market and Gough, they make mattresses the old-fashioned way," San Francisco Chronicle, May 17, 1998.
External links
- McRoskey Mattress website
- Cento: A Market Street Journal (1996, Susan Schwartzenberg, SF Art Commission - booklet with article on McRoskey)