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Out in Greene County, Iowa
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 Greene County’s unusual economic development deal lands a master furniture maker in a kind of time w
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER
September 8, 2008
JEFFERSON, IOWAThe most important rule about good economic development work may well be that you’ve got to be ready to scrap all your rules and time frames when the right situation presents itself.
That’s what happened this past spring in Jefferson, the west central Iowa town of 4,600 that is the seat of Greene County. Local industries have been expanding nicely – there’s an almost constant need for more good workers here – but the community needs new oomph in retail and tourism development as well as in business district infrastructure.
So, right after Easter weekend, the phone rang in the office of Rick Morain, executive director of the Greene County Development Corp. and also the editor & publisher of the Jefferson Bee & Herald. The call was from Robby Pedersen, 37-year-old Jefferson native who for five years had been operating “RVP ~ 1875” in Story City, a central Iowa town 60 miles northeast of here.
You’ve heard of people being “stuck in the 1960s”? Robby Pedersen is stuck in the year 1875, and that’s working out just fine for him, thank you.
Dressed in 1875 work clothes, he makes furniture of that vintage, using a variety of woods but only using the authentic tools, styles and finishes from that era. He got into it by taking an internship at Living History Farms while he was a student in history and teacher education at Iowa State University. He found his way to the cabinet making shop at the farms, began learning the furniture craftsmanship and discovered it was a perfect fit with his love of history and acting – he’s been in several theatrical productions. So anyway, he stayed at Living History Farms for 10 years, becoming a “master furniture maker” and a favorite with visitors.
Five years ago, he decided to go out on his own and opened his store in rented space in Story City. In that time, he has written for national woodworking magazines, had apprentices come from around the Midwest to learn from him, has hosted classes for woodworkers coming from across the nation, and showed off his artistry to a stream of people on bus tours. He and his company have been featured in stories in several major publications. And he had made 499 pieces of handsome authentic furniture from 99 prototype pieces he first constructed to show what he could do. His furniture has found a ready market with people from the Twin Cities to Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City and beyond.
“I was needing more space, and trying to buy the building I was in in Story City, but I couldn’t come to an agreement with the building owner,” Pedersen said. “So I was home in Jefferson for Easter weekend, and my dad Ken Pedersen told me that the old Genesis building was for sale.”
The 1920s brick building just off the southwest corner of the courthouse square in Jefferson was originally the Milligan Grain & Lumber Co., which operated there for decades as a lumberyard. In later years, it was headquarters for Genesis Development, a non-profit rehabilitation services agency for people with disabilities. Genesis is booming, and had a new building constructed in northwest Jefferson. It put the old brick building up for sale. As months went by, the structure was looking like it’d be a tough “sell” for any contemporary business purpose.
Turns out it was perfect for an 1875 application which thrives on vintage everything.
Pedersen called Morain, described his RVP ~ 1875 business and asked for information. Morain quickly realized that “as an economic development project, it would be very non-traditional, even unique.” But he nevertheless put together a packet of information for Pedersen describing some of the assistance Greene County Development and the City of Jefferson could possibly provide.
Morain then summoned the GCDC “business development team,” talked about the possibilities and they sent a contingent to Story City to look over Pedersen’s business. That included Jefferson City Administrator Mike Palmer; farmer Mike Holden, of Scranton; Jason White, executive director of the regional Midwest Partnership economic development agency that GCDC is part of, and Morain.
“When we got to Story City on what I think was a Friday, Robby showed us through his place there,” Morain said. “Then he told us that things had heated up in Story City – their local leadership was trying to convince him to stay – and that he had to make a decision by the end of the weekend. We said, like, are you talking about in the next couple of days? And he said, yeah, that was it.
“We were all impressed with his operation there, and wanted to try to make it work. So we came back to Jefferson, talked it over, called him and asked if he could put off the Story City people for a couple of days while we got some plans together. For one thing, we had to wait for our City Council to meet and consider offering him a Tax Increment Financing package. And Robby also had to reach an agreement on the sale price of the building here with Genesis Development.”
Pedersen made another trip back to Jefferson, where he looked over the Genesis building again, and was welcomed by two other GCDC officials, banker Doug McDermott and attorney Michael Mumma.
Economic development deals generally move like molasses. But this one wound up moving like lightning.
Pedersen had enough money for a down payment, had some personal borrowing capacity “but there was still a gap in what he needed to buy the building,” Morain said. “So the City of Jefferson stepped up with TIF financing, GCDC helped with some low-cost financing and in a very few days, the deal was completed.” GCDC also provided some assistance in getting some roof repair work done on the building, too.
Morain explained that “for GCDC to help a young retailer, that’s not usually the kind of thing we do.” The agency normally focuses on industrial recruitment and expansion.
“But this was different in that we had a real craftsperson here who not only wanted to bring a very successful furniture making business here, but he also operates it as a museum, which we think could draw lots of visitors,” Morain said. “And there’s an education element to it, too, as he always has younger apprentices working with him, and he teaches these weekend-long classes that are drawing people from all over everywhere. They come in and learn how to do this kind of woodworking with the authentic tools.
“We think it’s going to be a real attraction for Jefferson and Greene County,” Morain concluded.
On grand opening day, Saturday, September 6, about 400 people came through, and 17 of them placed orders for thousands of dollars worth of vintage furniture. The price range on most pieces is from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, with furniture made of the hardwoods more expensive than that made from softwoods.
Part of the fun was that in the afternoon, Pedersen unveiled his 500th piece of furniture, made from his 100th prototype. It is a “sit-down writing desk” made of walnut with a cedar lining of the desk compartment.
He said he and Kim Anderson, who is his business partner and girlfriend, were surprised and delighted at the turnout – and the number of orders.
“I said before the open house that if we got five orders for furniture during the grand opening, I’d be happy, and if we got 10, I’d be ecstatic,” Pedersen said. “To get 17, we were thrilled. That will keep me busy clear into February.
“One thing I’ve learned in this business over the years is that you can tell people all about it, but until they come in the door and see it, they don’t really understand it,” he continued. The furniture is built with such quality that “it will be passed down to your grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It’ll last a hundred years, two hundred years – who knows how long?”
So, why is it that the specific year 1875 has so captivated the imagination and creativity of Robby Pedersen?
“Part of it is my love of working with wood using these old authentic tools,” he said. “And part of it is my love of history, and the story involved.
“In 1875, immigrants and other settlers were streaming into Iowa,” he explained. “They were all building new homes, and not many of them had brought any furniture with them, so they all needed new furniture, too. In that year of 1875, there were 2,000 furniture makers working in Iowa. Twenty years later, in 1895, there were fewer than 200. And soon after that, companies started into mass production and most people didn’t want to pay the higher price of handmade furniture. They all went for the cheaper mass-produced stuff, so the furniture making industry faded away in Iowa. You couldn’t make a living doing it.”
Amazingly, more than 100 years later, a hardworking, multi-talented and congenial fellow like Pedersen can do quite nicely at it.
And his ol’ hometown and home county have now invested in that.
More of the story is told in the captions to the photographs below here. You can write the columnist at chuck@Offenburger.com.
Pedersen works with native lumber that he cuts from trees himself, again using authentic 1875 tools when he ''falls'' a tree. His shop is full of the huge saws and many different kinds of axes that he uses.
One of his real furniture showpieces is this ''partners desk,'' with two work stations facing each other. Pedersen said it is one of the most intricate and diffficult pieces he''s ever built, because it has 120 tenon & mortise joints. In other words, the joints in it are cut carefully so they fit together almost like puzzle pieces, and are then held by wood pegs. Pedersen says he works with the goal that every piece of furniture he builds is of such quality that it ''will be passed down to your grand children and great-grandchildren. They''ll last a hundred years, two hundred years -- who knows how long?''
An attractive ''sideboard'' cabinet, made of butternut wood, with a hand-crafted wood bowl sitting on it.
The gallery showroom at RVP ~ 1875 has 100 prototypes of the pieces Pedersen has made, including these cabinets and the shaped coffin.
Pedersen stands in front of shelves with hundreds of authentic planes that were used in woodworking in the 1870s, and he is still using all of them today. He dresses in authentic pioneer clothing on days when he is showing his work, doing demonstrations or teaching. A trained historical reenactor and a stage-tested actor in additiong to being a master furniture maker, he keeps his audiences spellbound as he talks about his work.
Here Pedersen talks tools and furniture making with two visitors on grand opening day, Chuck Wilson (left) of Nevada, Iowa, and Bob Sweeney, of Altoona, Iowa. Sweeney said he worked with Pedersen several years ago at Living History Farms on the edge of Des Moines, and he and Pedersen are brothers-in-law.
Pedersen is shown here doing some precision cutting in a demonstration of how to fit boards together with ''dove-tail'' joints.
The audiences of all ages was very attentive when Pedersen did several demonstrations on grand opening day of his furniture making company and museum in Jefferson.
Christopher Tibbetts, 32, of Story City, is currently working as an apprentice to master furniture maker Robby Pedersen. Here Tibbetts is listening to his instructor do a demonstration for an audience of visitors. Note the drills above him.
A better look at the hand-powered drills hanging in storage from overhead beams in the work shop area of the RVP ~ 1875 showroom in Jefferson.
Here''s how the work bench looks when a craftsman like Robby Pedersen gets busy.
Always close at hand are a variety of mallets and hammers.
Here Pedersen chisels out cuts he''d made in boards, demonstrating ''dove-tail joints'' that might hold together drawers for a desk or cabinet.
This massive foot-powered lathe dates to the 1860s.
RVP ~ 1875 served a free lunch to all visitors on grand opening day on Saturday, September 6, in Jefferson. The lunch was served in the rear shop area of the brick building that once housed a lumberyard, and many people ate outside at picnic tables.
Inside the back shop area, a bluegrass band ''K.C. & Stoney Creek'' entertained for much of the day, and from time to time, people would dance. Here Scott Anderson, of Stratford, Iowa, and Mikki Schwarzkopf, of Jefferson, take a turn dancing. Schwarzkopf was among several people dressed in period clothing who helped serve the lunch.
The band ''K.C. & Stoney Creek'' is a group of Iowa friends who''ve met while attending and participating in bluegrass music festivals around the Midwest. In front are fiddle player and vocalist Bertha Weaver, of Webster City, and young Katlyn Clemmons, 10, of Coralville, who also plays fiddle. In back are Vic Weaver, of Webster City; another friend Michele Sadler, of Guttenberg, who plays string bass, and Dan Clemmons, of Fairfield, who plays mandolin and is Katlyn''s dad. Their folksy string music was a perfect fit for the grand opening of a business that builds 1875-vintage furniture.
Pedersen offers this beautifully-built game table, which you can get with authentic game pieces that he makes or you can use your own.
A dining table and benches like would have been found in nice homes in 1875.
A massive bed is set high, which was common in earlier eras.
A ''framed sideboard'' cabinet, much like a buffet.
One of the most simple pieces of furniture Pedersen has made and is on display is this milking stool, which is authentic in every way except it has a much nicer finish than you would''ve likely found in 1875 barns!
Pedersen said one of his apprentices was skilled at carving ''in relief'' and made this small toolbox, complete with the company''s name on it, and then neatly painted some of the carving on it.
A nifty kitchen table has a top that tips up, to take up less room in a kitchen, and to offer storage space in the base of the table.
A simple, and yet beautiful, pantry cupboard.
This ''small flour bin,'' about three feet tall, would fit perfectly the kitchen cabinets that we Offenburgers have at Simple Serenity Farm, so we placed an order to have Robby Pedersen build one for us in pine. He received 17 orders for furniture pieces on grand opening day, ''and that will keep me busy clear into February,'' he said.
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