Gold Medal Camp Furniture Company

The Racine Camp Furniture & Novelty Manufacturing Co. was founded in 1890, to manufacture furniture for camping such as tents, folding chairs, and sleeping bags. Supposedly, after the company's furniture won a gold medal at the 1893 World's Fair exhibition in Chicago, the name was changed to the Gold Medal Camp Furniture Company.^[3] However, no gold medals were actually awarded at the fair,^[4] and there is evidence of the company using the Gold Medal name earlier.^[5] The company made the standard cots for the United States military and National Guard,^[6] and also created the modern director's chair after its No. 35 folding chairs became popular in Hollywood.^[7]

In 1979, Gold Medal established a second manufacturing plant in Baxter, Tennessee. In 1986, the company decided to consolidate its operations in the face of increased competition from overseas, and closed the Racine plant.^[3] In 2019, the complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places at the request of its owner, development firm J. Jeffers & Co., which is currently in the process of converting the historic buildings into an apartment building called Gold Medal Lofts.^[8]