More Than Paint & Wallpaper
The William Wright Company was a full interior decoration firm that provided clients a broad range of items, including custom woodwork, carpets, draperies, mirrors, furniture, and lighting fixtures.
The Wright Co. made many, but not all, of the products they sold in-house. Classified advertisements in old Detroit papers indicate that the firm employed seamstresses, upholsterers, lamp shade makers, shaper hands (expert hand tool operators), joiners, and cabinet makers.
Articles Courtesy The Detroit Free Press
New Legislative Chamber Carpets
Artisans from the William Wright Company decoratively painted the Senate and House Chambers of the Michigan Capitol in early 1886. The work was completed in just over two months, when a new problem emerged: the decorations did not match the first Chamber carpet, which had been temporarily removed while the room was being painted. So, even though the carpet was less than eight years old, the State ordered 1600 yards of new carpeting from the Wright Company. It cost $3,849.13.
As with many Capitol happenings, the local press covered the carpet installation project. An unnamed reporter wrote that a 2,600 pound roll of carpet destined for the Sente Chamber was hoisted up the outside of the building using a pulley rope fed through tackle secured to the roof. A dozen Capitol employees braced themselves against the exterior stonework as they heaved the carpet upwards. When it reached the second floor Chamber windows, the giant roll “resembling in appearance . . . a monster petition,” was pulled into the Chamber through a window. A similar process was carried out on the House side of the building.
In 1886 the Wright Company installed this lovely carpet to match the freshly repainted Senate Chamber. After being removed in 1910, it was given a second life in an area church. In 1990, longtime member Maxine Fay donated the carpet back to the Capitol. Today it is affectionately known as the Chicken Coop Carpet, in tribute to its former storage location on the Fay family farm.
Benefitting Workers and the Community
“Mr. Wright’s ears are ever open to a meritorious plan for pecuniary aid from the young and promising men who seek the proper paths to fortune, and few men in Detroit have more generously contributed to this noble purpose.”
-Detroit in History and Commerce, 1891
William Wright knew that his company’s success depended on developing a talented pool of artists and artisans. As his business grew, so did his investment in others. Sometime in the 1880s he reorganized his business via a “co-operative consolidation,” thus ensuring his employees shared the firm’s profits. He also supported several company baseball teams and donated elaborate displays for many local fundraisers.
A small summer baseball league formed around the turn of the 20th century that consisted of businesses in and around Detroit. The Wright Co. is known to have had at least two teams who competed in The Manufacturers League, including the squad featured in this 1905 Detroit Free Press photo.