April’s object of the month is this 7-inch white plate with a green imprint of the great falls in Lewiston from the Atherton Furniture company. The plate was manufactured by Homer Laughlin China and was from the American Beauty line.

The Atherton Furniture company was started by LeBaron Artherton who came to the U.S. in 1897 from Canada. In 1900, he and a few partners purchased the failing B. A. Atkinson & Co. furniture store in Lewiston and transformed it into a successful furniture store chain. Lewiston was the first store and became the flagship of the chain which included nine other stores across Maine, Massachusetts, and New York. The flagship store was at 220 Lisbon Street and was 6 floors high with 42,000 square feet of furniture floor space. The store was most known for selling Glenwood ranges. The chain shut down in the 1980s after being in Lewiston for over 80 years.