Longaberger Basket Building

Deep dives · Licking County, Muskingum County

Longaberger Basket Building

The seven-story Basket Building in Newark was built in 1995-97 as Longaberger's $32 million headquarters. Emptied in 2016, it sold for $1.2 million in 2017.

At a glance

Fact	Value
Type	Building
County	Licking, Muskingum
Established	Company 1973 (Dresden); building groundbreaking October 23, 1995, occupied December 1997
Coordinates	40.0636 N, 82.3467 W
Floor area of the Basket Building	180,000 square feet (1997)
Total weight of the building	about 9,000 tons (2012)
Weight of the handles	about 150 tons total (2012)
Cost of the building	$32 million (1997)
Building capacity	500 employees (2012)
Company sales and employment at peak	$1 billion; 8,200 employees (2000)
Sale price of building and surrounding 21 acres	$1.2 million (2017)
Asking price	$8.5 million (May 2026)

Overview

The Basket Building is a seven-story, 180,000-square-foot office building at 1500 East Main Street on the east edge of Newark, built from 1995 to 1997 as the headquarters of the Longaberger Company and shaped as a scaled-up copy of its best-selling Medium Market Basket, with two handles on the roof. The company grew out of basketmaking in Dresden, in Muskingum County, where J. W. Longaberger apprenticed at the Dresden Basket Factory in 1919 and his son Dave started J. W.'s Handwoven Baskets in 1973, selling through home shows from 1978. At its 2000 peak the company had $1 billion in sales and about 8,200 employees; after Dave Longaberger's death in 1999 sales fell, the company was sold in 2013, left the building in July 2016 and ceased operating in 2018. The building was sold for $1.2 million in December 2017, a planned hotel conversion collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as of May 2026 it stood vacant and was listed for sale at $8.5 million. The brand itself was revived in 2019 by Xcel Brands, with baskets again woven in Dresden.

The name

Named for the Longaberger family of Dresden, basketmakers since John Longaberger went to work for the Dresden Basket Factory in 1896. (source)

Native American history

Nothing Native American is recorded on the Basket Building's own lot. On the west side of Newark and in neighboring Heath lie the Newark Earthworks, built by people of the Hopewell culture between 2,000 and 1,600 years ago, once a complex of about four square miles and now, with the Octagon and Great Circle, part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks World Heritage Site (2023). At the Dresden end of the story, the village stands at or near the Shawnee town of Wakatomika at the mouth of Wakatomika Creek, which a Virginia militia force under Col. Angus McDonald destroyed in August 1774, during Dunmore's War; the town's people moved west and rebuilt a Wakatomika on the Mad River.

Newark Earthworks (Great Circle, Octagon, Wright Earthworks): earthwork, West side of Newark and in Heath, Hopewell, about 2,000-1,600 years ago
Wakatomika (first town of the name): village, Muskingum River at the mouth of Wakatomika Creek, at or near present Dresden, c. 1756-1774

Stories

A family trade in a pottery town

Dresden's baskets began as tools, not decorations. The Dresden Basket Factory made ware baskets for carrying pottery in the region's potteries and for farmers and homemakers, and John Longaberger went to work there after moving to town in 1896. His son J. W. joined him in 1919, and in 1936 he and his wife Bonnie bought a house and a small shop the factory had used, running the Ohio Ware Basket Company until 1955 while he also worked at the Dresden paper mill. Their fifth child, Dave, was born in 1934. (source)

Twelve baskets in 1972

In 1972 Dave Longaberger noticed department stores selling imported baskets and asked his father to weave a dozen. They sold in a nearby town, and ten dozen more sold within a month. In 1973 he opened J. W.'s Handwoven Baskets in a small Dresden shop with five weavers. From 1978 the baskets were sold at home shows by independent consultants, and each basket carried its weaver's signature and date. By 2000 the company had 8,200 employees and $1 billion in sales. (source)

Building a basket 160 times too big

Construction began in 1995 on a headquarters shaped like the Medium Market Basket, 160 times its length, width and height. The building measures 192 by 126 feet at the ground and widens to 208 by 142 feet at the roof, and its offices surround a seven-story, 30,000-square-foot atrium lit by a skylight. The handles, attached with replica copper and wooden rivets, are heated to prevent ice from forming, and two gold-leaf Longaberger tags of 725 pounds each hang on the sides. Most of the cherry woodwork was cut from the company's golf club in Hanover and milled in its own shops. The company's fact sheet says Longaberger designed the building inside and out and that NBBJ and Korda Nemeth Engineering administered construction. Other accounts, such as The Architect's Newspaper, credit the design itself to NBBJ and Korda Nemeth. (source)

The day the Basket reopened

On Sunday, October 20, 2019, Heritage Ohio opened the empty building for a one-day tour, its first since 2016. More than 600 people came, some driving four hours from towns such as Ironton and Washington Court House, and lined up two hours before the doors opened. Former employees, from an executive to a machinist and a groundskeeper, served as guides; 500 volunteered for 40 slots. Heritage Ohio's director said people were in tears and hugging each other. The next day Heritage Ohio announced that the building would reopen as a luxury hotel. (source)

Back to Dresden

When Longaberger stopped operating in 2018, Dresden lost the craft that had defined it for a century. In July 2019 Dresden native Jim Lepi and company veterans opened Dresden & Company, rehiring about 20 basketmakers, most with more than two decades of experience, and one of its first pieces was a limited-edition basket marking 100 years of basketmaking in Dresden. (source)

Timeline

1774: In August, during Dunmore's War, Virginia militia led by Angus McDonald destroyed the Shawnee town of Wakatomika near present Dresden and four other Shawnee villages on the Muskingum. (source)
1817: The town of Dresden was laid out at the mouth of Wakatomika Creek on the Muskingum River. (source)
1896: John and Carrie (Dray) Longaberger, Dave Longaberger's grandparents, moved to Dresden, and John went to work for the Dresden Basket Factory. (source)
1919: John Wendell (J. W.) Longaberger began an apprenticeship at the Dresden Basket Factory, which made ware baskets for the region's pottery industry; Dresden basketmakers count 1919 as the start of the town's basket century. (source)
1934: Dave Longaberger was born, the fifth of J. W. and Bonnie Longaberger's children. (source)
1936: J. W. and Bonnie bought a house and a small shop once used by the Dresden Basket Factory, and J. W. began making baskets for pottery companies as the Ohio Ware Basket Company; that business closed in 1955. (source)
1972: Seeing imported baskets in department stores, Dave asked his father to make a dozen; they sold, and ten dozen more sold within a month. (source)
1973: Dave Longaberger started J. W.'s Handwoven Baskets in a small Dresden shop with five weavers, later renamed The Longaberger Company. (source)
1978: The company began selling its baskets through home shows on a multi-level marketing model, each basket signed and dated by its weaver. (source)
1981: The first Longaberger Bee sales convention met at Jefferson Elementary School in Dresden; the company had 50 employees. (source)
1989: The company had a sales associate in every state. (source)
1994: Tami Longaberger became company president while her father remained chairman. (source)
1995: Ground was broken on October 23 for the basket-shaped headquarters on the east edge of Newark. (source)
1997: Employees began moving from Dresden into the new Basket Building in December, 225 of them in the first group (December 8 per the Newark Advocate; the company's own fact sheet gives December 9). (source)
1998: Dave Longaberger retired, handing the company to Tami while remaining chairman; the company passed 6,000 employees. (source)
1999: Dave Longaberger died of kidney cancer on March 17, at 64. (source)
2000: Longaberger reached its peak, $1 billion in sales and 8,200 employees, eighth among Ohio manufacturing employers. (source)
2003: The company laid off 461 manufacturing workers in April, followed by nearly 1,000 more job cuts in September 2004. (source)
2013: Dallas-based CVSL bought a controlling interest in Longaberger in a deal signed March 15; sales had fallen to about $100 million in 2012. (source)
2014: The company made its last property-tax payment on the Basket Building on November 24. (source)
2015: Tami Longaberger resigned as chief executive in May. (source)
2016: On July 15 the last employees left the Basket Building for the Longaberger Homestead near Frazeysburg, with $605,219 in property taxes owed. (source)
2017: On December 29 the building sold for $1.2 million to Canton-area restoration developer Steve Coon and partner Bobby George; the sale paid $830,798 in back taxes. (source)
2018: On May 5 the company told its consultants it was suspending operations; its parent filed Chapter 11 on June 29, converted to Chapter 7 liquidation on October 26. (source)
2019: Dresden & Company began weaving baskets in Dresden in late July with about 20 veteran basketmakers. (source)
2019: Xcel Brands and Hilco Global bought the Longaberger intellectual property for $750,000 and relaunched the brand, with baskets made under contract by Dresden & Company. (source)
2019: On October 20 Heritage Ohio held the first public tour since 2016, drawing more than 600 people, and on October 21 Heritage Ohio announced that the building would become a luxury hotel. (source)
2021: In January the hotel plan was canceled because of the pandemic, and the building went back on the market at $6.5 million. (source)
2026: In May the still-vacant building was listed for sale at $8.5 million. (source)

Sources

Towns and ZIP codes

Water, health, jobs and history for the places on the shores and just downstream.

Towns

ZIP codes

43055 Newark

Questions

What happened to the Longaberger Basket Building?

The Longaberger Basket Building has stood vacant since July 15, 2016, when the last employees left it for the Longaberger Homestead near Frazeysburg. It sold for $1.2 million on December 29, 2017, to developer Steve Coon and partner Bobby George. A plan announced in October 2019 to turn it into a luxury hotel was canceled in January 2021 because of the pandemic, and in May 2026 it was listed for sale at $8.5 million.

When was the Longaberger Basket Building built?

The Longaberger Basket Building was built from 1995 to 1997. Ground was broken on October 23, 1995, and employees began moving in from Dresden in December 1997, 225 of them in the first group; the Newark Advocate gives December 8 and the company's fact sheet December 9. The seven-story, 180,000-square-foot headquarters at 1500 East Main Street cost $32 million.

How big is the Longaberger Basket Building?

The Longaberger Basket Building is a seven-story office building of 180,000 square feet, shaped like the Medium Market Basket at 160 times its length, width and height. It measures 192 by 126 feet at the ground and 208 by 142 feet at the roof. The whole building weighs about 9,000 tons, and its two heated handles weigh about 150 tons together. It was built to hold 500 employees.

Who designed the Longaberger Basket Building?

The company's own fact sheet says Longaberger designed the Basket Building inside and out, with NBBJ and Korda Nemeth Engineering administering construction. Other accounts, such as The Architect's Newspaper, credit the design itself to NBBJ and Korda Nemeth. The building copies Longaberger's best-selling Medium Market Basket, and most of its cherry woodwork was cut from the company's golf club in Hanover.

What happened to the Longaberger Company?

The Longaberger Company stopped operating in 2018 after years of falling sales. It peaked in 2000 with $1 billion in sales and 8,200 employees, a year after founder Dave Longaberger died on March 17, 1999. Sales fell to about $100 million in 2012, and CVSL bought a controlling interest in 2013. Its parent filed Chapter 11 on June 29, 2018, converted to Chapter 7 liquidation on October 26.

How did Longaberger baskets start?

Longaberger baskets began in Dresden, where John Longaberger went to work for the Dresden Basket Factory in 1896 and his son J. W. apprenticed there in 1919. In 1972 Dave Longaberger asked his father to weave a dozen baskets; they sold, and ten dozen more sold within a month. In 1973 Dave opened J. W.'s Handwoven Baskets with five weavers, and from 1978 the baskets were sold at home shows.

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