The first Crate&Barrel store, Chicago, 1962.

In 1962, Russel Wright and his daughter Ann had just moved into his house and studio, Dragon Rock, at Manitoga, after having had an overwhelmingly successful career in designing a wide range of products for the American home.

At the same time in Chicago, Carole and Gordon Segal were inspired to create a contemporary housewares business, partaking in Russel Wright’s dictum that good design is for everyone. The recently married Segals wondered why the simple, well-designed tableware they had seen in Europe on their honeymoon was not available in the United States. Knowing that there must be other young couples just like themselves – with more taste than money – they opened the first Crate&Barrel store in December 1962, in part of an old elevator factory in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.

After traveling through Europe and buying directly from glassblowers, ceramists, and other craftsmen, the Segals were left with no money for displays. They stacked the shipping crates as shelves and filled the overseas barrels with stylish merchandise. So out of necessity came the unique Crate&Barrel style… and name.

Just moments before their official opening, Carole and Gordon realized they had forgotten just one thing – a cash register! That first store had one employee and occupied 1,700 square feet. Today Crate&Barrel has over 7,000 employees and more than 100 stores across the United States and overseas as well. Their sister stores include CB2, a home furnishings division geared toward young adults, and The Land of Nod, which sells furnishings and gifts for children.

We honor the Segals for furthering Russel Wright's legacy by making thoughtfully-designed, beautiful objects available to a wide audience for nearly fifty years.

In 1929, the Perkins family purchased Glynwood and brought a strong conservation ethic to their farm, inspired by George Walbridge Perkins who in the late 19th century led the way to the creation of The Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

Upon Mrs. Perkins’ death, her family preserved Glynwood Farm, making its core the site of a not-for-profit organization dedicated to rural conservation. With help from the Open Space Institute and Open Space Conservancy, and funding from the Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Fund, the forested uplands of the 2500-acre estate became part of Fahnestock State Park, while the 225-acre core became Glynwood Center.

In 1997, Glynwood absorbed the Countryside Institute and its Countryside Exchange program, which served as a "field laboratory" for understanding the needs of rural communities and provided the intellectual underpinnings for Glynwood’s mission of saving farming by strengthening farm communities and regional food systems.

Glynwood fulfills its mission by working hands-on with communities to help them develop policies and infrastructure that support their farm economies and conserve their farmland and by working its own land, to test, innovate, and teach techniques that demonstrate the economic viability of sustainable farming practices.

Glynwood is working to realize a vision – of a sustainable food system based on a revival of small and mid-sized farms and a revitalization of farm communities across the nation – of working farmscapes supporting energetic local economies – of consumers having ready access to fresh, healthful food produced by local farmers who practice land stewardship and environmentally sustainable agriculture.

It is with great pleasure that we honor Glynwood for its pioneering work in environmentalism, sustainable local agriculture, and community-building.