The Waldoboro Shoe Factory was constructed in 1888 on the east bank of the Medomak River in Waldoboro, Lincoln County, Maine. As shipbuilding along the Medomak River declined in the late 1880s, local leaders sought new industries to support the town’s economy and provide employment. To that end, the town invested heavily in the construction of a large textile manufacturing facility.¹

The four‑story, approximately 30,000‑square‑foot building was erected with an investment of $32,000, of which the town itself contributed $20,000. The factory was sited adjacent to a new reservoir created to supply water for industrial use. Because electrical power was not yet available locally, the building relied on gasoline engines to power a system of belts and pulleys that drove its internal machinery.¹

When completed, the Waldoboro Shoe Factory was intended to produce shoes using mechanized equipment — a transition from traditional handcrafting to industrial shoemaking that was sweeping New England during the late 19th century. However, despite the investment and its substantial size, the factory only produced shoes for a few years before ceasing operations and becoming vacant.¹

Following its short‑lived use as a shoe factory, the building sat largely unused until 1920, when it was sold at a loss. The Holub, Dusha Company then repurposed the space for the manufacture of button‑machinery parts. In 1921, the Paragon Button Corporation began producing pearl buttons from imported shells, which were shipped to Maine from sources including Australia, Manila, and the Fiji Islands.²

Under the Paragon Button Corporation, the facility became a significant contributor to Waldoboro’s industrial base, employing about 82 people at its peak and sustaining local economic activity for decades.² In 1943, Stanley and Rolsala Gerson of Patrician Plastics purchased the operation and, in 1957, transitioned production from pearl to plastic buttons. The factory produced millions of buttons, dice, dominoes, and poker chips through the mid‑20th century, although employment declined to about 25–30 workers by 1981. That year the factory ceased formal operations, marking the end of active manufacturing in the building.²

Over time the former shoe factory and button factory became known locally as the button factory due to its long association with button production. In more recent years, the building has been used in informal ways, including as a residence, workshop, art studio, and creative space by individuals living there, reflecting both local connection to the site and the challenges of finding new industrial uses for historic structures.³

The Waldoboro Shoe Factory’s history — from ambitious local industrial investment in 1888, to brief shoe production, to decades of button and plastic goods manufacturing — illustrates both the aspirations and economic shifts of small‑town New England industrial life around the turn of the 20th century and through the mid‑20th century.

Footnotes

1. Construction, financing, structure, machinery and power system, and short period of shoe production: Penobscot Marine Museum, Shoe Factory, Waldoboro, ca. 1910 (Maine Memory Network, Item #105880).

2. Subsequent use by Holub, Dusha Company; Paragon Button Corporation’s button manufacturing, employment figures, Gerson ownership, conversion to plastic button production, and eventual closure in the early 1980s: Penobscot Marine Museum, Paragon Button Corporation, Waldoboro, 1921 (Maine Memory Network, Item #105904).

3. Contemporary artistic and residential use of the former button factory building: Molly Rains, “Among Boats and Buttons, Bobo Hachmeister is Free,” Lincoln County News, August 19, 2024, describing long‑term inhabitant and use of the historic factory structure.

Bibliography

• Penobscot Marine Museum. Shoe Factory, Waldoboro, ca. 1910. Maine Memory Network Item #105880.

• Penobscot Marine Museum. Paragon Button Corporation, Waldoboro, 1921. Maine Memory Network Item #105904.

• Rains, Molly. “Among Boats and Buttons, Bobo Hachmeister is Free.” Lincoln County News, August 19, 2024.