DANBURY, Conn., June 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ethan Allen (NYSE:ETH) is pleased to announce that the State of Vermont has declared June 23rd Ethan Allen Day. The day will annually mark the anniversary of the date in 1775 that the Continental Congress commissioned famed revolutionary war hero Ethan Allen as lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army and accepted his Green Mountain Boys as one of the first regiments of the newly created American army.
“Our organization is built on the idea that progress is impossible without change, and we embody the same pioneering spirit that Ethan Allen, the man, showed in his lifetime,” said Farooq Kathwari, Chairman, President and CEO of Ethan Allen. “We are so pleased to be able to help celebrate this day in his honor.”
Representatives from the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum in Burlington and special guests—including Vermont author and historian Willard Sterne Randall, Lt. Col. Justin Davis, commanding officer of the 172nd Battalion, 10th Mountain Division of the Army, Brig. Gen. Dennis Lutz, and Stephen Perkins, executive director of the Vermont Historical Society—will convene at the Homestead to celebrate this special occasion.
Ethan Allen, the company, will also celebrate the day throughout its entire organization. The company has many ties to Ethan Allen, the man, and Vermont. Ethan Allen was born in Litchfield, Conn., less than 40 miles away from the company’s international headquarters. The company’s very first furniture factory, acquired in 1936, is still in operation in Beecher Falls, Vermont. In true pioneer fashion, the entire factory stays warm through the Vermont winter using its own wood-waste and a 100-year-old Skinner steam engine, which produces electricity. In fact, Ethan Allen has two manufacturing facilities in Vermont and is one of the largest employers in the Northeast Kingdom.
“We are proud to recognize one of the great founders of our state and this nation,” said Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin. “Many visitors to Vermont care about history and come to learn more about Ethan Allen and tour the Homestead, so to be able to declare June 23rd Ethan Allen Day is an honor for me as well.”
The Ethan Allen Homestead Museum is open daily from May through October and allows museum visitors to see how people lived during Vermont’s early days. The Homestead is also the state's only surviving home of a founder and his family.
At the age of 19, Ethan Allen joined the Litchfield County militia as a private. In 1771, he organized the famed Green Mountain Boys and became colonel commandant of that group, which at the start of the Revolutionary War was the largest militia in the land. In May of 1775, he and 83 of his men captured Fort Ticonderoga, and the cannons acquired from that victory enabled George Washington and his men to drive the British out of Boston. As a result, the Green Mountain Boys were honored by the Second Continental Congress on June 23rd, 1775, and established as one of the first regiments of the Continental Army. Later, Ethan Allen became deeply involved in efforts to gain Vermont statehood. He died at the Homestead in 1789.
About Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE:ETH) is a leading interior design company and manufacturer and retailer of quality home furnishings. The company offers complimentary interior design service to its clients and sells a full range of furniture products and decorative accessories through ethanallen.com and a network of approximately 300 Design Centers in the United States and abroad. Ethan Allen owns and operates nine manufacturing facilities, which include six manufacturing plants and one sawmill in the United States plus one plant each in Mexico and Honduras. Approximately seventy percent of its products are made in its North American plants. For more information on Ethan Allen’s products and services, visit www.ethanallen.com. Follow Ethan Allen: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Houzz, YouTube, Instagram, Google Plus