As the year 1884 approached here in Concord, our ancestors were gathering in the local taverns and coffee shops down on Main Street to read about some very interesting events in the local newspaper:
The Ringling Brothers Circus had just made their premier and rumors about town said this circus would be visiting Concord in the very near future.
Susan B. Anthony just addressed the U.S. House Judiciary Committee arguing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would grant woman the right to vote.
There was an unknown doctor out west with concerns about health that just patented a flaked cereal; his name was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
There were many exciting events occurring and our ancestors were well informed each day with the local newspaper as well as word of mouth from those arriving on the stage coach at the Phenix Hotel. Each topic was certainly entertaining and there were plenty of opinions from all concerned. The Civil War was long over and the population was growing quite rapidly here in Concord; war veterans were once again settled in and there were plenty of immigrants arriving to work on Rattlesnake Hill cutting granite. Many of these immigrants were fresh off ships from Ireland and followed their family to Concord with promises of a good job and many opportunities to support their young families. Income was always the subject of many a discussion down on Main Street and the people continually sought new opportunities to provide even more for their families.
With local politicians involved in everyday life and very assessable to the citizens of Concord, it was common knowledge that new industries were welcome here in Concord and supported by both the people and the politicians. It was with this thought in mind that plans were made to attract new industry that was not common in this area in hopes of capturing new revenue without distracting the current businesses, something that would provide many new jobs and a boost for Concord’s commerce.
With this thought of a new venture fresh in the minds of people at City Hall a plan was put into place to make a small investment to attract new businesses. A proposal was made, a budget was set and the voting easily passed for an investment in the commerce of our community. Concord had always held an interest in diversity and many unique factories were developing across the land. The people of Concord decided that they would make every effort to attract some of this manufacturing to the city with enticements that were relatively uncommon in this era.
Our ancestors decided that Concord would be a wonderful location for a manufacturer to make shoes. Not just a small shop but a factory that could make thousands of shoes. With a high-level factory there would be more jobs, revenue, people arriving from afar and certainly a boon to the local economy. With the thought of shoes in mind our ancestors set a plan in place to attract a worthy manufacturer to town, for Concord had never hosted this industry to a scale as large as this.
This first attempt to introduce this new industry to Concord was set in place in 1884. A meeting was called and all of the citizens of Concord were invited to attend this meeting and help with the plan. An association was then formed, subscriptions were sold to raise money resulting in a windfall of $25,000. in a relatively short period of time. There was a nice vacant lot on Bridge Street, the people voted to construct a fine building on this available lot just east of the railroad and west of the Merrimack River. Once this beautiful building was constructed the city of Concord exempted the building from taxation for a period of ten years to make the opportunity even more attractive. The people then set in motion their plan to attract a shoe manufacturer to fill this new building with machines, material and people to make the finest shoes. Within months they achieved their objective with a visit from a man living in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Howard L. Porter was an established shoe manufacturer, he knew his business and had a record for success. He visited our little town, met with the town leaders and made the decision to open his factory here in Concord and began manufacturing shoes in January, 1885. The architectural and structural features offered by this building were outstanding, when coupled with the latest machines and a plentiful work force the stage was set for success.
Howard L. Porter was an adventurous man and he set to work on his very aggressive objectives down in his new factory on Bridge Street. He calculated that he could manufacture 40 cases of shoes per day, or 2,500 pairs of shoes each day. Mr. Porter was very connected and he sold his shoes at wholesale so that other shoe stores could sell them to the customers at retail. Between the Concord quality and high-volume production in his new Concord factory he provided shoes to every single state in the country as well as Mexico and the West Indies.
As the months turned to years and the years continued to pass, Howard L. Porter prospered and the people of Concord held steady employment at a fair wage. During the first ten years of production it is said that Porter manufactured a million shoes and continued far beyond his own expectations. The retail shops benefited greatly when the shoe manufacturing employees spent their money locally. Over a period of 10 years the payroll distributed locally exceeded $615,000 and provided the security desired greatly by the employees as well as the City of Concord. By the time the business closed it is estimated that close to two million pairs of shoes were produced here in Concord for the wholesale industry.
Such is life, all good things must come to an end. The factory closed eventually with competition from other large shoe manufacturers and our ancestors found employment elsewhere. The building stands to this very day, many people pass the Howard L. Porter Shoe Company to this day while they travel along Bridge Street. Once the shoe manufacturing ceased the factory was quickly inhabited by a smaller shoe company called Morrison Shoe and then the Peerless Manufacturing Company. Today the building is known as the Ralph Pill Building and inhabited by a variety of local businesses.
Our ancestors had a plan in 1884 to bring revenue to town, working together both the city politicians and the citizens accomplished their objective very well. I’m sure our ancestors from 136 years ago would be quite pleased to see the little factory they built for $25,000. is still in use to this very day.