Showers Brothers Furniture Company

When the Showers family arrived in the small community of Bloomington, Indiana, the railroad was just coming to town and a modest university was struggling to survive. Having spent the prior 18 years moving from place to place, the family decided to settle down and invest its modest resources to start a furniture company. The business proved to be extremely profitable and a stroke of luck for Bloomington. The company's success led to the building of paved streets, which brought additional new businesses to town, and helped Indiana University flourish. The later philanthropic acts of the Showers family were an important part of the town's continued development. The family's contributions to Indiana University -- which was not supported by the state at the time -- helped the institution make it through difficult times and paved the way to its becoming the largest university in the state. In this history of Showers Brothers, Carrol Krause tells the story of a remarkably successful collaboration between business, town, and gown.