THE YEAR WAS 1880 - Fifteen years after the end of the Civil War; and newly introduced inventions included Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone in 1876 and Thomas Edison’s incandescent electric light in 1879. We were a country of 38 states.

Andrew Dutton, after trying his hand at a variety of interests including, but not limited to clerk in a grocery store, traveling salesman selling pocketbooks, the manufacture and selling of baby carriages; made his final business change.

He opened a little store as a distributor of supplies to furniture manufacturers and upholsterers at 8 Canal Street in Boston near Haymarket Square. With the scales used to weigh hay in the market square on the first floor, the business was conducted around and above these scales.

In 1900, Mr. Dutton placed his business under the supervision and management of his son-in-law, Alfred H. Colby. Mr. Dutton died in 1912 at the age of eighty. Items offered for sale during this time included silk, linen, laces, shade and upholstery goods, bedding and furniture supplies.

While the Wright Brothers were flying the first motorized plane, Andrew Dutton Company branched out with offices in Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

In 1915, as World War I raged in Europe, the business was moved to 60 Canal Street into a building which had in the past been used as a carriage house for the North Station. It was at this time that Andrew Dutton Company became a distributor of Kirsch Drapery Hardware, a distributorship we maintain to this day.

In the 1920’s items offered included custom window shades and lace and novelty curtains made in the company’s lace curtain factory, blankets, rugs, dress goods, in addition to items first placed in the line many years before. Shades were made in our shade factory using Hartshorn rollers. Other interesting items included a “Ford Touring Car Top and back curtain” for only $11.00!

By 1937, the business had survived the depression years. The line at this time included awnings, metal furniture, porch shades, folding furniture, in addition to the old tried and true line of shades, drapery fabrics and hardware, upholstery fabrics and supplies.

In 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War II, Andrew Dutton Company served the country by making shelter halves and tents for the government. In 1942 Charles Colby, its president, left to serve his country and his brother Robert acted as general manager in his absence.

Charles Colby maintained his position as president until his passing in 1984. At that time his son William became president, a position he holds to this day.

1984 was also the year we again returned to the manufacturing of window blinds when we opened a Graber Blind fabricating plant on the third floor of our Boston building.

In 1986 the company needed more space and moved to a new building in Avon, Massachusetts, a small town just south of Boston; which is still our home today.

In 2004 we added the Norman International line of shutters to our extensive list of products.

Today we manufacture custom window blinds and roller window shades and distribute to the trade drapery hardware, interior shutters, decorative fabrics and trim, and workroom supplies.

The hope expressed by Andrew Dutton in 1905 that “his business would continue another twenty-five years” has been fulfilled far beyond his dreams.

Click here to view our Andrew Dutton Company Archives