Greenfield Cabinetry celebrates 50th anniversary
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ELKINS -- Past and present leaders of the Corsi Group, the parent company of Greenfield Cabinetry, gathered at the Industrial Park factory on Wednesday to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary.
Current owner Mark Earl spoke at the event, along with former owner and founder Pat Corsi. In September 2021, the company, which operates out of Indianapolis, Indiana, announced the transfer of ownershipfrom Corsi to Earl.
The Corsi Group began building cabinets in Indianapolis in 1973 and in November of 2000, Greenfield Cabinetry opened its Elkins location, where it currently employs close to 90 production workers.
"We are here today to celebrate something that is pretty extraordinary in the world of business today," Earl said during Wednesday's celebration. "When somebody decides by themselves to open up a door and start a company, and then 50 years later the company employs all these people and makes all of these beautiful products, it doesn't happen every day. And we all owe a big thanks to Pat (Corsi) for being so brave to do that."
Corsi shared a story with the Elkins employees about how the company got its start.
"In the spring of 1973 there was a recession, so it was not the best time in the world to try and restart your life," said Corsi. "I looked into starting a company like the one I had run, which was a cabinet company. But it was going to take too much money, so I made another business plan and fell back on a little custom shop … I got a little building, a 10,000 square foot garage that I rented from a guy for $400 a month, and I got a $44,000 SBA loan from the Indiana National Bank in Indianapolis.
"On July 16 of 1973, I walked into that empty garage and I was by myself. And the first thing I did was clean the john, because I figured if I was going to make a business there, sooner or later we were going to have to use the bathroom. So that was my first day as president of Corsi."
The Corsi Group Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Ann Rottinghaus, also attended the celebration, along with Randolph County Development Authority Director Robbie Morris, and Matt Borror from the West Virginia Department of Economic Development.
"I would like to congratulate Greenfield and the Corsi Group on 50 years of business," said Morris. "They have been in Elkins coming up on 23 years and they have been a great corporate citizen here in Randolph County, providing a lot of great jobs. They donate to a lot of non-profit organizations in the county and we really appreciate their continued investment here in Elkins."
The Corsi Group prides itself on using a special blend of old world attention to detail, combined with modern technical expertise to make the best products available. The brand is distributed nationally to close to 500 dealers and designers, and all of its cabinets are built in Elkins and Indianapolis.
"Along the way, the thing that really makes it happen is people who come along and work here," said Earl. "We have people here that have worked at this place since it opened, and we have newer people who have just started recently. But the thing is, Corsi is this man's name here today, but we've taken it from him because it's become our company -- we are Corsi. This is as much a celebration about you guys and what you've built."