The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-05-10
RICHMOND MADE SHOES GO
ALL OVER THE COUNTRY
Two Immense Factories Tint Some
People Have Northumberland
Shoe Shops.
BOSTON CAPITAL.
INVESTED
"Madc In Richmond" Goods Sold From
the Lakes TO the Gulf nnd From
Ocean to Ocean. 49,

y prominent business man of Rich
'nond once said To me, and 1t was not
n very long time ago. that half OF
Richmond did not know what the other
half was doing in a business way. Il
WAS plain to this man of business that
he had given the reason for so many
croakcrs who lived and moved and
had their being in this good old town
at that time. They Uhc Croakcrs and
kiclScrs) were in the habit Of bciittle-
ing Richmond and Its commercial and
Industrial Importance, and We're doing
IT because they wcre ignorant Of the
affairs OF their own city. The Indus
trial Section has been furnishing a
great deal OF information about Rich
mond's commercial and Industrial AT
fairs. ana one good result is there are
now fewer croakers and kickers here
abouts than there were at the time the
nlan OF business made the remark
quoted above. They have been learn
in.; scme things.
But. even to-day there is some ig-
norancc regarding Richmond's import
ance rs n manufacturing town, due
perhaps To the fact that Richmond is
great deal larger than II used to
10 be, and Is growing so fast and so
many new industries are bobbinS up
1t Is little difficult for all the people
In keep track of it's growth.
CASE IN POINT
OUR SIIOEMAItING INTEREST
week ago there appeared i'm the
Views and Near Views column of this
section Il statement that within the
last year Richmond had taken from
Boston large shoe manufacturinl;
plant; that the Boston concern. which
had intended to build an enormous
factory in East Boston along with ono
already III operation. changed it's mind
after Investigating the advantages of
Richmond. and built the new ami
larger factory here, and from that iac-
tory fine shoes are being shippcd all
over the country and to some foreign
lands. Since the publication OF that
paragraph not less than u half a dozen
Ihchmond people. who are supposed to
be well informed, have asked me If
! was not mistaken about that biz shoe
factory. They had never seen or heard
CT II.
Thcr, ~ no mistake about It, The
facts arc thcac: Thatcher & Co, manu-
iacturcrs of shoes on n large scale in
hoston operated the Virginia Pcniten-
tiaTy factory for several years on the
leased labor system, and thus they
became acquainted with Richmond'S
married advantages as II manufacture
ing and distributing centre When IL
became necessary 10 enlarge their East
i''Slon pant In order to meet the de-
mands Of increased business they wise
| " decided that the best thing to do
was 10 locate the now factory in Rich
mond 'ha best distributing point in
the country and thcv bought the Iarce
lnilding nj Twentieth and Grace
streets. known as the Butlcr tobacco
factory.
AN ti'-To-DtTE FACTORY
CIIHtSrENED "VI;E VIRGINIA."
This comparatively new huildinr,
which was ch;istcncd the "C'olumbia."
was rcmodellcd and converted into an
rp-to-datc shoe factory. being sun
piled with modern machinery. etc. and
there was commenced therein the man
ufacturc OF misses and chillrcn's fire
shoes At the same time the nrn
bought the property at EVENT FIRST
aud Grace streets and contracted for
she immediate erection there of a spIcn-
did building cspccially designed ana
constructed for the shoe making bust
ness. and II this mammoth house all
or tho necessary modern. machinery
was quickly Installed. This factory
was namch tn" Virginia"
lust year and zen. days ago Thatch