John S. Fogg Shoe Factory, 4-10 Union Street, Columbian Square, Weymouth

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER MASS,11-WEYMO,4-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Weymouth history has been closely tied with that of shoemaking in Massachusetts, and, in the century, "Weymouth Grade" was synonymous with high quality. By the the town had left the handicraft stage of shoe manufacture, and by the central shop, which "put out" for home work several of the parts of shoe manufacture, had begun to appear. By the and the central shop had expanded. Almost all were wood frame structures, and very few have survived. Even in the John S. Fogg Factory was considered a model of its class; today, it is a very rare example of a once common building type, and of considerable architectural merit. Bates Torrey, in The Shoe Industry of Weymouth (Weymouth, describes the building: "The John S.

Fogg factory, which is about the only ediface of War-times still standing with much of its original form, figured in as a model of its class. This building was erected about and proudly claimed the distinction of having an elevator {worked by hand power), a cement floor in the basement sole-leather room, and was heated by steam. It may have displayed other novelties of construction and convenience, being considered such an unusual structure.

The location on the corner of Pleasant and Union Streets warranted the thrifty sub-letting of stores, but the opposite end of the first floor contained the receiving-room of the factory, to accomodate trucks and workmen, and where there was a separate space set off by an iron fence to hold a safe and and the desks and customary furniture of the accounting department. Half of the second floor was the cutting-room, and the remaining area was divided between the treeing-room and one for "dressing" and packing the product." A portion of the third floor was occupied by Cobb (Charles S.) & Fogg (John who manufactured shoes and the attic, under a sightly cupola, by Isaac Daggett for a HAER No. MA-42 page 2 stitching-room.

The outbreak of a fire there one day demonstrated that the building was something of a fire-trap, in spite of its pretentions to completeness. Above the modern storefronts of the first story, the building is virtually intact, complete with elaborately turned eave brackets and heavy wood lintels over third floor windows. The cupola shown in century illustrations is missing.