In the Dining Room is a tall sideboard with mirror and shelf back that is carved of burled walnut veneer. This sideboard was made by Mitchell & Rammelsburg, at the time Cincinnati’s largest furniture manufacturers. The company was formed in 1847 when two relatively unknown cabinetmakers named Robert Mitchell and Fredrick Rammelsburg formed a partnership that would prove very successful. At one point Mitchell & Rammelsburg claimed to be the largest furniture manufacturers in the world. In 1875 the entire working area in their downtown factory was 242,250 square feet. Their factory handled the entire process of making furniture from rough lumber to final product, which was originally sold in their own showrooms. The wood used was hand-carved or worked on steam-driven woodworking machines, which made furniture making easier, more profitable, and also lowered prices. During a visit in 1854 an English woman noted that the factory was making around 2,500 chairs a week. They made Victorian furniture of all descriptions and in many styles. Their highest priced items were typically mahogany bedroom sets, but they also used black walnut, cherry, oak, pine, maple, and rosewood. The sideboard in the Dining Room probably cost about $100 when it was purchased new, making it a very expensive piece of furniture.
