Shoe manufacturing was an important industry in Elizabethtown's history. One of the first building lots in town as sold in 1763 to Fredrick Zetty, a shoemaker. He handcrafted custom leather shoes from hides purchased from local tanneries. By 1860, David Hornafius, with two assistants, was hand stitching, gluing and nailing 50 pairs of boots and 250 pairs of shoes a year.
In 1901, Aaron S. Kreider introduced Elizabethtown to the factory system by mass producing shoes in a building he bought from Buch Manufacturing. In 1904, A.S. Krejder Shoe Manufacturing Company built a plant at the corner of South Poplar and West Washington Streets, currently Peach Alley Court Apartments. Men on the factory floor repeated one piece of the shoe making process, like sewing the tongue to the font vamp, before passing it on to the next station. It was called piece work and the employees were only paid for the completed work. If the production line shut down and they could not complete their task, they did not get paid. In 1915, A.S. Kreider Shoe Manufacturing Company employed 450 people and produced 5,000 pairs of shoes per day.
William A. Withers, a Kreider employee, resigned, moved up South Poplar Street and formed the W.A. Withers Shoe Company. W.A. Withers Shoe Company was in the building which is currently Market House Apartments.
When William retired, Louis Charleroy and Galen B. Homer took over the management, and it became the Lancaster Shoe Company.
Elizabethtown's shoe industry era came to an end when the last shoe factory, A.J. Bedford Shoe Company, closed its doors in 1979.
Shoe companies in Elizabethtown included A.J. Bedford Shoe Company, A.S. Kreider Shoe Manufacturing Company, Empire Shoe Company, J.B. Athletic Shoes, Lancaster Shoe Company, Savoy Shoe Company, and the W.A. Withers Shoe Company.
From where you are standing:
The W.A. Withers Shoe Company was located in the 3-story brick building directly across South Peach Alley.
Looking to the left, down the alley, The A.S. Kreider Shoe Manufacturing Company was located in the 4-story brick building.
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