website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Beals & Torrey Shoe Co.
Established 1904 in Watertown
1904, established
Scarcely
had the guns of the Civil War ceased firing when two young men from
Massachusetts, E. F. Beals and I. G. Mann (the former
a wounded and discharged soldier) stopped off in Milwaukee looking for a
satisfactory location for a shoe jobbing house. Milwaukee seemed to impress the
young men as being the place they were looking for, and they at once completed
arrangements for a store at 91 Huron Street, and opened business as Mann & Beals. Later results
proved that the selection of Milwaukee was a wise one, but after one year's
experience Mr. Mann concluded to retire from the business and his place was
filled by J. L. Beals, a brother of E. F. Beals. Their father,
E. S. Beals, and Alexix
[Alexis] Torrey having connected themselves with the firm, it was known as Beals, Torrey & Company. Orbit, Watertown High School, 1921
Alexis
Torrey (1828-1915)
Alexis
went to San Francisco at 21 for the gold rush, came back and started the shoe
business and was clearly very successful.
He invested in many things and enjoyed a long and full life.
The
Torrey’s were in the shoe business in Weymouth, MA. Alexis Torrey was very successful and
invested in many things of the day.
Alexis’
sister, Emily, married Elias Franklin Beals of Milwaukee. Emerson Torrey, Alexis’ son, went to
Milwaukee to work with his uncle and remained there. The inventory of Alexis’ estate listed 500
shares of Beals and Torrey Shoe Company.
Alexis’
obituary stated that he retained an interest in the wholesale house of Beals,
Torrey & Co., Milwaukee. DT email,
12 29 2011
Elias Franklin Beals
Elias
Franklin Beals was born in Weymouth in 1841 and died there in 1906. He married Emily Catherine Torrey, sister of
Alexis and daughter of Lemuel and Nancy S (Bicknell) Torrey. She was born in 1846. Elias Franklin Beals' father Elias Smith
Beals had three surviving sons. Augustus stayed in Weymouth. James, born in
1848, is listed as removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Elias is not listed as moving to
Milwaukee. James presumably went before him. Their father Elias Smith Beals (1814 – 1897)
held many prominent positions in Weymouth and was a shoe manufacturer for many
years.
Weymouth,
which is fairly near Plymouth, is one of the oldest settlements in the United
States and has very extensive historical records. This information pretty much
confirms to me that the family name is correctly Beals as opposed to Beal as
listed in some places in your writeup.
- 1923 History of Weymouth Massachusetts [four volume set]
______________________________________________________________
At
this time the firm opened a factory where were manufactured men's work shoes
and women's turned shoes, both high and low cut. This factory was in a building occupying the
site of what became Child's Restaurant on Grand Avenue. Upon the removal of the
firm to West Water Street in 1888 to a building since razed to make room for
Gimbel Brothers Store, the factory was also removed to that building, and was
continued there until the entire floor space was required for the increased
jobbing business, when it was located on Clybourn Street between West Water and
Second Streets and afterwards removed to Fourth Street between Clybourn and
Fowler.
In the
early days of the firm its goods were sold in Wisconsin, northern Iowa and
southern Minnesota, E. F. Beals and J. L. Beals covering the territories twice
a year mostly by team. Goods sold on the spring trip were collected in the
fall, and those sold in the fall were paid for in the spring. In 1897 the business had so developed that it
was deemed advisable to incorporate, and so in the spring of that year the
corporation known as Beals & Torrey Shoe Company came into existence.
In
1904 a desire which E. F. Beals had long been possessed of was consummated and
the company erected its own factory at Watertown. For a short time the same class of goods was
manufactured in the new factory as had been in the old, but after the death of
E. F. Beals in 1906 the new management decided on making a radical change, and
devoted the entire effort of the factory
to the production of Men's Fine Goodyear Welt Shoes.
Those
in active control of the business since 1906 are:
F. E. Beals ..........President
J. H. Pratt
............Vice-President
J. G. Hafemeister ....Treasurer
R. W. Tait ............Secretary
F. W. Pfeifer
..........Superintendent
Under
their regime the business so increased that it became evident a larger factory
was necessary, but before plans could be carried into effect the war came on
and building operations had to be laid aside. As soon as permitted to do so
work was commenced on a modern factory, up-to-date in every respect and its
completion was reached early in 1920.
This
factory has a capacity of 2,500 to 3,000 pairs a day and is known as
Beals-Pratt Shoe Manufacturing Company.
The company is now covering the entire United States and also includes
in its territory, Cuba, Mexico and Central America.
1904
06 24 The Beals & Torrey Shoe Co. of
Milwaukee has decided to remove their manufacturing plant to this city. The officers of the Watertown Advancement Association
have been negotiating with the company for some time and finally closed a deal
with them last week. A cash bonus of
$8000 will be given the company, and they will erect a plant here to cost
$30,000, and as soon as it is completed 100 men and 50 women will be put to
work.
The
factory will be built on a piece of land just northwest of Milwaukee Street
bridge. It is to be four stories high,
200 feet long and about 60 feet wide.
Mayor
Wertheimer and Fred A. Hoffmann, the soliciting committee, are at present
taking subscriptions from our business men and others and it is hoped they will
be generously dealt with. This company
will from the start pay out about $1 000 a week in wages, which will be of
great benefit to Watertown.
John
Buckley of Emmet has signed $20 to the enterprise, taking an interest in our
city because it is his market town and he wants to see it prosperous. We want more John Buckleys in and around
Watertown to give a good active boom on this city.
1904
11 08 The shoe factory at West Milwaukee and
Water streets, completed for the Beals & Torrey Shoe Company of Milwaukee,
will be in operation about December 1 and employ about 125 persons.
The
factory is of brick, four stories in height.
It is 150 feet long and 41 feet wide, with an additional boiler room and
coal bunker at the north end, together with a steel water tank, seventy feet
from the ground, which will be used in the operation of an automatic sprinkler
system in case of fire. There are 225
windows in the building and gas and electricity have been installed, the latter
to be used for power. It will be heated
by steam. The building is constructed with a view to perfect sanitation and
comfort of employees.
The
cost of construction was about $30,000.
C. Huenefeld of this city was the contractor and the workmanship
throughout is of the best character. F.
L. Lindsa, was the architect.
1904
07 12 Saturday morning the writer visited the
Beals & Torrey Shoe Co's factory and was surprised at the amount of work performed
and the exceeding friendliness of the factory in each and every department. The
factory is located at the corner of Milwaukee and Water streets, is built of
white brick, and there stories above the basement and is an imposing structure
and a credit to both the company and the city.
At the
present time over one hundred and twenty-five hands are employed in the
factory, and footwear for men women, youths and children are manufactured,
there being several grades of each, running from the common up to the very
finest shoes being made, such as any lady or gentleman would wear with the
satisfaction of knowing that they were well shod. The daily out-put is 800
pairs each working day, each passing through the several departments and
finally and lastly to the polishing department under Foreman Devine, where they
are finished for the trade.
The
machinery in use is of the latest, and is a marvel of the ingenuity of man, and
many of the machines work as if possessed of intelligence, which one can watch
with interest by the hour. The wages paid monthly amounts to a large sum and is
a great help to the city in furnishing employment for many people at good wages
which are promptly paid.
1905-6 Wrights Watertown Directory
1908
08 07 Beals &
Torrey fire alarm box 36. WG
10 02 GORDER FACTORY RENTED. Wm. Gorder
has leased his factory in First [Water?] Street, just vacated by the M. D.
Wells Shoe Co., to the Van Camp Packing Co.,
receiving $600 a year rental. The Van
Camp Co. intended enlarging their factory in Milford Street, but for the
present will not do so, but will use the Gorder factory for storage purposes,
there being no room in their factory for that purpose. WG
1909 M. D. Wells Company, Mastiff
Shoe Factory, Watertown, 1909
c.1910
1912
02 22 COLONIAL
DAY PARTICIPANT
On this season’s
program of the Saturday Club, February 20th is named
as Colonial Day, and the members celebrated in a befitting manner the natal day
of our first president. . . .
. . . In the evening a
committee of five members of the Saturday Club entertained eighteen of the
girls who are employed at the Beals & Torrey shoe factory in the south room
of the library. The W. D. Sproesser Co.
loaned one of their celebrated Victor machines and fine records. Miss Elsie Sproesser was in charge and some
fine music was given and greatly enjoyed.
Some games had been arranged which proved entertaining and later an
appetizing lunch was served. The evening was much enjoyed by all. WG
1913
Milwaukee Street Bridge with Beals & Torrey in
distance, c 1913
1914
03 05 THAUER HOME ON N. CHURCH
Fred
W. Pfieffer, manager of the Beals & Torrey Shoe Co. of this city, has
purchased the John Thauer residence in North Church Street and will move his
family here in a few weeks. WG
c.1920
BEALS & PRATT SHOE CO. /
Former Beals & Torrey Shoe Co.
1921
The
present factory building of the Walter Booth Shoe company was built by this
firm in 1919, and operated by it until 1925, when it became the Walter Booth
Shoe Company. From less than 100
employees when Waller Booth affected the organization in 1925, the firm now
employs approximately 500 men and women and at one time had as high as 600
employees. W. A. Schumann is the factory superintendent.
The
Walter Booth Shoe Company makes men's dress shoes exclusively that retail from
$4.00 a pair to $7.50 a pair. The
distribution is national. There are 26
salesmen selling the shoes throughout the entire United States. It also has distribution in the Hawaiian
Islands.
The
trade names used by the Walter Booth Shoe Company are "Walter Booth"
shoes, "Crosby Square Authentic Fashions," and "Crosby Square
Flexible shoes."
The
"Crosby Square" name has been nationally advertised for several yours
in magazines like, Esquire, Time and the Saturday Evening Post. The name is well known throughout the United States
by people in the shoe business as well as consumers.
"Crosby
Square" shoes are retailed by some of the finest stores in the United
States. An example of a few of them
are: Mabley and Carew, Cincinnati, Ohio,
M. R. Baker Company, Toledo, Ohio: Maurice L. Rothschild, Chicago; Minneapolis
and St. Paul; Daniels and Fisher, Denver, Colorado, Sommer and Kaufmann, San
Francisco. Calif., Glide's, Los Angeles, Calif., Bon Marche, Seattle,
Washington, Stone Shoe Company, Cleveland, Ohio; Sakowitz Brothers, Houston,
Texas and Dreyfuss and Sons, Dallas, Texas.
2012
Cross-References:
Beals & Torrey building became site for Kusel Dairy
Equipment
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin