November 25, 1921 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



35 



Panoramic View of Berkey & Gay Plant and Surrounding Industrial Area— Whiteness of New Plant Stands Out at Right of Picture 



The Last Word in Furniture Factories 



New Berkey & Gay Plant at Grand Rapids Embodies All That Is Most Modern and Ejficient in 



Buildings and Equipment 



What is probably the largest and the most modern wood work- 

 ing factory in the world is the new plant now occupied by the 

 Berkey &c Gay furniture company in Grand Rapids, Mich. 



It is a factory which for about two years was in process of 

 construction and which for a long time prior to the laying of the 

 first brick occupied the attention and best energies of William H. 

 Gay who, unfortunately, did not live to see it in full occupancy 

 and operation. 



It is a factory in which no money has been spared to make it 

 complete, a factory in which the man at the bench, the girl at the 

 typewriter, the man in the fireroom, the lumber in the yard, the 

 machine, the coal and all the rest have been given thought; a 

 factory where initial expense is to be offset by great economies in 

 operation; a factory which is a little city in itself. 



The site covers an entire city block and a very large one at that. 

 It is bounded by Monroe avenue, Walbridge street, Ottawa avenue. 

 Mason street, and is divided almost in halves by Bond avenue, 

 through which run the Grand Trunk railroad tracks. 



The factory building proper occupies the northeast corner of 

 the site and is 547 feet on Monroe, by 169 on Walbridge to Bond 



by 71 I feet on Bond to Mason. It is six stories in height of brick 

 mill construction with all stairways extra bricked and the entire 

 plant made safer even by a complete sprinkling system. 



Everywhere economy in labor has been applied and this begins 

 with the handling of lumber. In the old plant lumber was handled 

 seven times. In this new and modern plant it will be handled but 

 once. The Grand Trunk w^ill deliver the lumber on cars direct into 

 the spacious yards of the new factory site. Here it will be un- 

 loaded from the freight cars to kiln cars, which it will never leave 

 until it goes to the saw^. The entire yard has been tracked ^vith a 

 most comprehensive system of transfer tracks which will permit of 

 the cars being moved easily wherever desired. There are no turn 

 tables to freeze up in w^inter, the lumber can be moved on the kiln 

 cars by the simple throwing of a switch. 



There will be no tight piled lumber anywhere. It will all be 

 stuck on these kiln cars with stickers 18 inches apart. When a 

 certain lumber is wanted it will be run on the car on which it is 

 atuck direct to the kilns, dried there and on the same car, without 



[I'ontiiiunl oil page 44- Nrr ifi.st, fm;/' :M\i 



A "Close-Up" of Handsome New Berkey & Cay Factory 



