Visit our Holliston, Massachusetts, USA (Metcalf) page!
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.
Factory of The Arthur A. Williams Shoe Co.
"With a bond issue offered to the rich and the not so well off alike, the construction of a three story manufacturing facility on Water Street, Holliston’s Big Shop, was undertaken with great optimism in 1891. The townspeople hoped to attract a major shoe manufacturer to the new building in order to provide more stable employment in a town with a large pool of skilled shoe workers in need of steady employment. Several of Holliston’s old guard in the shoemaking industry, such as the Batchelder brothers, had retired, died, or moved their factories to more economical environs, leaving Holliston with fewer job opportunities.
The completed building on Water Street was described as 203 by 35 feet, four stories tall; with a front porch ell and tower 20 by 30 feet, a brick engine and boiler house 30 by 30 feet, and a chimney built with 35,000 bricks to a height of 95 feet...
...In 1898 the building was vacant and remained so until Arthur A. Williams, after a most unfortunate fire at his factory in Cochituate, made the move to the spacious factory building on Water Street." www.hollistonmill.com
Postcard
Posted in the Past: Revealing the true stories written on a postcard
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.
Factory of The Arthur A. Williams Shoe Co.
"With a bond issue offered to the rich and the not so well off alike, the construction of a three story manufacturing facility on Water Street, Holliston’s Big Shop, was undertaken with great optimism in 1891. The townspeople hoped to attract a major shoe manufacturer to the new building in order to provide more stable employment in a town with a large pool of skilled shoe workers in need of steady employment. Several of Holliston’s old guard in the shoemaking industry, such as the Batchelder brothers, had retired, died, or moved their factories to more economical environs, leaving Holliston with fewer job opportunities.
The completed building on Water Street was described as 203 by 35 feet, four stories tall; with a front porch ell and tower 20 by 30 feet, a brick engine and boiler house 30 by 30 feet, and a chimney built with 35,000 bricks to a height of 95 feet...
...In 1898 the building was vacant and remained so until Arthur A. Williams, after a most unfortunate fire at his factory in Cochituate, made the move to the spacious factory building on Water Street." www.hollistonmill.com
Postcard
Posted in the Past: Revealing the true stories written on a postcard