By 1820, there were 25 unidentified women—almost equal to the number of men—employed at the Finlay furniture factory in Baltimore. When a free, female furniture maker arrived at the factory on Gay Street in downtown Baltimore, she joined an assembly line of free, enslaved, or indentured artists of both African and European descent. Each person specialized in areas such as turning or shaping wood (often men), painting ornamentation (likely women), weaving cane seats (likely women), or packaging shipments (likely men) for local and international clients. When she left the factory, she was surrounded by furniture factories and showrooms, including furniture businesses owned, not just operated, by women.