Beverly Community History, The Shoe

The Shoe

It changed the shape of our community. "Coming to Beverly," read the headlines on September 25th, 1903. "Will employ over 2,500 men. Cost of plant half million." The new colossus rose from a tract of land of both marshy bog and massive rock ledges near the mouth of the Bass River. Hundreds of Italian workers rearranged the natural landscape, grading with horse and wagon. Then came the buildings themselves, designed by engineer Eric Ransome. The plan was for three buildings: A and B to be 60 feet wide and 520 feet long, with building C somewhat shorter. There would be over 10 acres of floor space and 90% of the walls were glass. Built of reinforced concrete, a radical new technique, the factory was, at its birth, the largest factory in the world.

This massive complex began, though, as a small idea in the head of Sidney Winslow, a man who learned shoe making at the knee of his father. Working long hours undoubtedly made him appreciate the benefits of mechanization and helped him move up to a directorship of Consolidated Hand Lasting Machine Company in 1889, a firm which had just entered the market with a lasting machine invented by a Dutch Guianan named Jan Matzeliger. Nearby lived the remarkable Gordon McKay, who bought up various patents involved in stitching leather uppers. During the Civil War, he gained great notoriety by providing the Army with 150,000 pairs of shoes using McKay machines. Meanwhile, the Goodyear Company introduced a method for sewing uppers to the soles which could be mechanized. The new technology revolutionized the business. In the span of thirty-five years, the labor costs for a pair of shoes dropped from $5.65 to a mere 74 cents. To join these three elements of innovation, the partners joined together on February 7th, 1899 to form the United Shoe Company.
"The factories at Beverly are spacious, clean, airy, well lighted. These things prevent accidents and save money. Baths and wash rooms preserve cleanliness. A hospital is attached to take care of accidents and injuries. An industrial school is maintained for the benefit of Beverly high school boys. Rest rooms for women and restaurants for all are a part of the system. The company maintains a clubhouse and grounds for its employees. Golf, tennis, baseball, and cricket clubs are organized and a fine shooting range is on the grounds. these and other forms of service are at the base of that loyalty and efficiency which are the outstanding characteristics of the employees at USMC."
And indeed, comments from Shoe workers, past and present, suggest that it was one place at which you wanted to get a job. By the height of World War I, when shoes were being cranked out for the troops, almost 5,000 people were working off Elliott Street. Housing demands for this massive work force created whole new neighborhoods near Gloucester Crossing, Swan and Mason Streets, and all of Rial Side. Four new schools popped up in the town within ten years, including the "McKay" School and the "Winslow" School. As a Beverly Times article said in 1918,
The presence of any enterprise, employing thousands of clean-living, self-respecting people and spreading millions of dollars in wages every year is always a welcome addition to any community, if only for the material benefits it brings with it; but when that enterprise adds to its material and financial benefits, an enlightened industrial policy, founded on a recognition of duty and humanity in its dealings with its employees and of service and fraternity towards its clients, it gives a distinct character to the community that is as valuable as its financial assistance.
So much for a critical press!

Now the Shoe has moved out of Beverly. its doors closing in 1987. Many of the problems which led to the decline of USMC can be found in anti-trust litigation filed in 1911 and settled in 1971. For decades, the company enjoyed a lucrative monopoly. Instead of selling their machinery, USMC employed a leasing system in which they received a payment according to how many shoes were manufactured on that machine. Initial investment costs were therefore kept low-a bonus to new companies-and the Shoe had a steady profit. They maintained their machinery as well-often the repairman became a permanent fixture at the local shoe factory. Of course, he wouldn't touch another company's broken machine! This steady income with low debt made USMC, as Fortune Magazine wrote, "the bluest of blue-chip investments." Loss of this monopoly and forced divestiture led eventually to acquisition by the Emhart Corporation. Several analysts suggest too, that as the Shoe tried to expand through acquisition rather than its trademark research and development teams, the Company lost its unique business qualities. One USM inventor, for example, had the second longest list of patents in the country at one time-beaten only by Thomas Edison.

Someone wrote, "There will never be the day when you can put a cow in one end of a machine and have a shoe come out the other, but we have given them better technology in almost all ways." The Shoe created 20th century Beverly while making its mark on the larger history of American industry.

Taken from "Made In Beverly-A History of Beverly Industry", by Daniel J. Hoisington. A publication of the Beverly Historic District Commission. 1989.

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