National Register of Historic Places

Leonard. Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory

Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Listed
August 2, 2018
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
100002733

About this property

The Leonard, Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory is a historic industrial property located at Rice and Peirce Streets in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Built in 1896 and repeatedly enlarged before 1911, it was home to one of the town's major employers. Now converted to residential use, the factory complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018. The former Leonard, Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory is located in a mixed industrial-residential area in Middleborough, at the northeast corner of Peirce and Rice Streets. It is a U-shaped complex of industrial buildings, three stories in height. They are mostly of wood frame construction, and are covered either by low-pitched gabled roofs or shed roofs. In the center of the U is a brick boiler house, and there is a brick elevator tower at the western end of the southern leg of the U. The oldest portion of the complex was built in 1896 by Cornelius Leonard and Samuel Shaw, who had joined forces to begin a shoe manufactory in 1892 which was first located in leased space on Jenks Street. This oldest section paralleled Peirce Street, and the major elements of the U shape were added in 1905 and 1911. The boiler house was added in 1907, and the elevator house sometime after 1925. Leonard and Shaw took on W. Henry Dean as a partner in 1897, and operated here until 1933, when manufacturing was moved to Centre Street after a series of corporate mergers. In the 1950s the building was occupied by Bay State Specialties, and manufacturer of advertising materials. National Register of Historic Places listings in Plymouth County, Massachusetts

Location

151 Peirce St.
Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts
41.89603, -70.91234

Categories

ARCHITECTUREINDUSTRY
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

US Post Office-Middleborough Main
Industrial
0.2 mi
Middleborough Center Historic District
Pre Contact
0.3 mi
Pierce, Peter, Store
Industrial
0.3 mi
Washburn, C.P., Grain Mill
Industrial
0.4 mi
Middleborough Waterworks
Listed
1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Leonard. Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory listed on the National Register?

Leonard. Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 2, 2018.

What type of historic resource is Leonard. Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory?

Leonard. Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Leonard. Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory?

The period of significance for Leonard. Shaw & Dean Shoe Factory is recorded as the industrial era.

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