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The McKay Company was founded by Pittsburgh Industrialist James McKay (1830-1906). From tire chains the company moved into auto bumpers. A 1926 magazine advertisement promotes McKay “Red Bead” auto bumpers. From bumpers the company began producing chrome furniture with the product owing a debt to the automobile bumpers of the period.
By the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago, the company was in a position to furnish The McKay Lounge in The Hall of Science stocked with McKay craft spring action, chromium plated metal furniture for porch, lawn, solarium, or the like: gliders, chairs, tables, smokers, stools, and accessories.
In 1935 the company hired architect Salvatore Bevelacqua (1893-1982) to design furniture for McKay Craft. Other designers included John Waring Carpenter (1885-1961), Wiliam R. McGowen, and Percival Goodman (1904-1989).