The American Veneer
Company was a shipper on the New Orange Four
Junction Railroad, and later the Rahway Valley Railroad, from
1902 until the plant suffered a major fire in December,
1912.
American Veneer was founded in
1900 by William A. Bushfield who initiated his business in
Jersey City, NJ. Wooden veneers are thin slices of wood,
usually thinner than 1/8" that are glued onto core panels to
produce flat panels such as doors, tops, and panels for
cabinets, parquet floors, and parts of
furniture.
After his product caught on and was in
demand, Bushfield moved his plant to New Orange, NJ
(officially organized as Kenilworth in 1907). American Veneer
was moved into the site formerly occupied by Ricca
Manufacturing Company
. Bushfield had the plant expanded, to
meet his company's needs, to a plant measuring 200' x 60' and
was soon employing roughly 100 persons.
The niche of the market that
American Veneer got into was manufacturing dashboards for
automobiles, a budding and rapidly expanding industry at the
time.
Sadly, on December 29,
1912 a devastating fire broke out at American Veneer's plant,
one of the worst in Kenilworth's history, and destroyed all of
the contents and the entire building. Also destroyed was an
empty boxcar on the company's siding.
No subsequent mentions of the
company can be found in documents. We can assume that the fire
devastated the company to the point of financial
ruin.
Please see news clippings below for
further information on American Veneer
Company.
