A Brief Examination of the Beginnings of Kentucky's Correctional Industries
by Gary Dean Gardner, Independent Scholar
(A PROLOGUE- Since I wrote this piece back in mid-2017, I believe Mel Hankla has since included some additional data on the matter in his book on Kentucky material culture released this spring of 2020 that includes a cameo look at Kentucky's penitentiary-made chairs. I'm glad that additional attention is being given to this early Kentucky industry.)
Kentucky State Reformatory
Sadly, there is little reference material published on any of the varied state penitentiary crafts to further our current research into regional Kentucky decorative arts & material culture. Many objects were manufactured by prisoners throughout the South during the 19th century, from fine leather work in Virginia to the noted fancy chairs of the Kentucky State Penitentiary. The Kentucky state furniture industry, as overseen by the Commonwealth prison system, was actually quite early, and they made more than just porch rockers and court house arm chairs. Annual reports from the prison system indicate the inmates in Kentucky did leather work, too, just as was done in Virginia, as well as rope and bag manufacture (yes, prisoners had access to hemp!) blacksmithing, and saddle & harness making. In fact, those reports give the best insight into the workings of this unorthodox craft industry in the Bluegrass.
We sometimes see a date of 1826 in attributing an origin to the chair-making at the Kentucky State Penitentiary, and certainly that aspect of the prison industries was thriving by then, but, the chair making industry there is actually much older. John S. Hunter was one of the first “keepers” of the Penitentiary, serving in that capacity from 1798 until 1815. In his report to the State Legislature for 1805 we find recorded that, “At a called meeting in the latter part of August (1805), one of the guards was ordered to be discharged for intemperance, and the agent ordered to employ Thomas Elliott to superintend the chair making business."
Later such reports to the Commonwealth provide us more detail about the chair manufacture business. A joint committee report from 13th January 1817 states, "The convicts appear to be well clothed, and properly employed in different branches of mechanical occupations, which evi(de)nces the skill, judgment, and good management of the keeper.” This report goes on to enumerate the specific assignments to the varied “factories” of the prison, including, “engaged in the nail manufactory- 18 men, blacksmith's business- 6 men, chair making- 8 men, shoemaking- 9 men, stone cutting- 11 men."
An inventory prematurely taken in 1819 entitled “Raw materials on hand in the Kentucky Penitentiary 18th January, 1820” lists 600 fee of chair plank valued at $18.00, along with Sundry unfinished chairs, paints, etc. belonging to chair department with a worth of $559.25. The 1st October 1819 inventory of finished chairs shows the success of the chair making venture over the course of those prior 15+ years. It recorded these completed products ready for sale: 2 chairs 3.00 1 chair 1.25 363 chairs 726.00 1 settee 16.00 2 settees 24.00 1 settee 15.00 1 cribb [sic} 5.00 1 cribb [sic] 4.50 1 rocking chair 4.50 6 rocking chairs 24.00 3 rocking chairs 10.50 3 chairs 6.75 8 chairs 12.00 1 chair 3.50 2 rocking chairs 5.00 4 small chairs 6.00
The total inventory was appraised at $3,205.37, with the most expensive chairs costing $3.50 each, rockers priced at up to $4.50, and “settees” or Windsor style benches being the highest priced seating available at $16.00.
Future “keepers” continued the established tradition of making chairs. In the 1825 Journal of the Kentucky House of Representatives we find the report of Joel Scott, "Keeper of the Penitentiary," in which he records the value of "Articles manufactured" at a whopping $13,575.83! Scott declared to the Legislature that, "I still continue the chair making, shoe making, coopering, wagon making, etc. and have made various other improvements." By 1827 the prison was making goods on contract for the Kentucky State Senate chamber and, while not delineated, this order must have included chairs.
Vocational training was a primary interest by the middle of the 1800s. Sneed’s history of the penitentiary industries relates that, “During the five years ending as above (31 Dec 1859), 580 prisoners were received, who were unacquainted with any mechanical business. Of this number there were taught to weave, 163; cane seating, 137; shoemaking, 163; chair-making, 21; varnishing, 8; boot crimping, 3; segar-making, 4; broom-making, 2; blacksmithing, 1; and burnishing, 4; 75 were employed at various kinds of labor pertaining to the operations of the institution.”
Later 19th century “keepers” found it more profitable to bring in private industry to oversee the prison labor force. A state report from 1893 explains, “For a number of years prior to April 1st, 1893, the labor of the convicts was leased to the Mason & Foard Company, and the company fed and clothed them. At that time this contract with the State expired, and since then the State has been supporting them. No. 14 shows what has been bought for their support by the Warden from April 1st, 1893, to November 30th, 1893.
Your Honorable Board has, within the last two months, bought and put into the Penitentiary a plant of machinery for manufacturing chairs. Some of the machinery is now at work, and chairs are being turned out. Under a contract with Norman & Hubbard, the State is to deliver to them $18,000 worth per month, which will be about one thousand chairs per day. I have every reason to believe that the factory will be turning out the above number by the 20th of the month. This will give employment to over onehalf the convicts, and will certainly be profitable to the State. A table marked “Chair Plant and Material” show the cost of the plant and material up to December 1st…
Yours obediently, HENRY GEORGE, Warden.
CHAIR PLANT AND MATERIAL
Chair Plant and Material Purchased to December 1, 1893.
CHAIR PLANT- $19,622.11
LUMBER- $18,811.02
MATERIAL- $1,248.58
CANING- $7,821.78
FINISHING- $2,228.50
UPHOLSTERY- $652.65
PACKING- $35.78
Total purchased to December 1st- $49,880.42
Salaries Superintendent and Foremen- $630.17
Total outlay- $50,510.59
The early 20th century found Kentucky’s prison system still perpetuating the making of what by then must have been long-appreciated quality in chairs. In 1901, $25,000 was appropriated by the Legislature for a new chair making factory at the Penitentiary. By 1910, the Kentucky State Penitentiary chair factory was operating as a contracted subsidiary company, providing labor & product for both "Kentucky Furniture Company" and "New England Chair Company.” These enterprises were working 350 men a day for between $.35 cents and $.75 cents.
While Kentucky Penitentiary fancy chairs, with their unique bent arms, are known to collectors, virtually nothing has been printed about their history and importance in the annals of Kentucky antiques. Hopefully future scholarship will fill in some vital gaps about these beloved chairs.
See Sneed, Wm. C., A Report on the History and Mode of Management of the Kentucky Penitentiary, Frankfort, KY 1860.
Swango, G. B., Report of the Register of the Kentucky Land Office October 10, 1893.
Journal of the House of Representative of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Kendall & Russells, Frankfort, 1819
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