Thomas Day
Thomas Day navigated the change from the age of a rural custom cabinetmaker to the production of standardized parts and manufacturing processes. Born in 1801 as a free black man, he moved to Milton, N.C., in the 1820s near the thriving warehouse district along the bustling Dan River and later purchased the prominent Union Tavern on Main Street. Mr. Day employed as many as fifty skilled woodworkers, with free and enslaved black artisans working alongside whites, who annually produced hundreds of pieces of furniture, upholstery, and custom architectural elements, from elaborate staircase railings and fireplace mantles to cribs and dressers.
A savvy entrepreneur, Mr. Day offered interior design services, created his own signature designs of mahogany and rosewood, and advertised in publications outside his community that he offered "a supply of elegant furniture of all kinds on hand.” He was an investor in the local State Bank, a prominent member of Milton Presbyterian Church, a tobacco plantation owner, and a landowner able to supply and sell raw lumber. At the height of his success, the 1850 census identified his business as the largest cabinetmaking shop in North Carolina.
Mr. Day also was one of the first manufacturing concerns in his area to install steam-driven power tools. This mechanization enabled him to fill large orders for the finest homes in North Carolina and Virginia, as well as businesses, churches, and university facilities. Automation equipped him to speed the manufacturing process by producing templates for parts for his furniture and architectural elements in quantities that other cabinetmakers could not match. Thus, Mr. Day set the stage for the next generation of furniture makers who leveraged the abundant natural resources needed to establish the region as a center for furniture manufacturing operations.
Today, Thomas Day furnishings can be found in private collections and museums across the country. In addition, interior and exterior woodworking features attributed to Thomas Day grace several homes on the National Register of Historic Places.