Abstract

The Waldoboro Button Factory represents a significant example of industrial continuity and change in rural Maine. The history of the property extends beyond a single manufacturing operation, reflecting more than a century of changing industries, ownership patterns, labor experiences, and community connections. Originally documented as a shoe manufacturing facility in the late nineteenth century, the site later became associated with button manufacturing and, subsequently, plastics production. Through these transitions, the factory remained an important place of employment and industrial activity.

The earliest documentation of the property comes from Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, which provide evidence of the factory’s use as a shoe manufacturing facility during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These maps record the building’s layout, production areas, and changing industrial status.¹

Later property records and federal environmental documentation provide evidence of continued manufacturing activity and help trace the factory’s evolution through additional industrial periods.²

The history of the Waldoboro Button Factory demonstrates how industrial buildings can survive economic change by adapting to new industries and technologies. The products manufactured within the building changed over time, but the factory continued to serve as a workplace connected to the local community. Its significance lies not only in the goods produced there, but also in the workers, businesses, and historical events associated with the site.

This study examines the factory’s industrial development, emphasizing the relationship between manufacturing, community identity, and historic preservation. The Waldoboro Button Factory stands as a reminder that industrial heritage is created not only through buildings and machinery, but also through the people and communities that give those places meaning.

Introduction

Industrial buildings preserve histories that extend beyond their original purposes. A factory is not simply a structure where products are made; it is a record of changing technologies, economic conditions, labor systems, and community experiences. The Waldoboro Button Factory provides an example of this broader industrial history through its transformation across multiple periods of manufacturing.

The property’s earliest documented industrial identity was as a shoe manufacturing facility. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provide detailed evidence of the factory’s organization and industrial use. These maps identify the building’s manufacturing purpose and record the arrangement of production spaces throughout the structure.³

The factory’s early history reflects the importance of small-scale manufacturing in Maine communities. During the nineteenth century, factories provided employment opportunities and connected rural communities to larger regional markets. Manufacturing buildings became important landmarks, often remaining significant even after their original industries declined.

The Waldoboro factory did not remain limited to one product or one period of operation. After the decline of shoe manufacturing, the property entered later phases of industrial use. Property records document ownership changes, and federal environmental documentation provides evidence of later manufacturing activity and facility history.⁴

The later identity of the building as the Waldoboro Button Factory reflects the relationship between industrial places and community memory. While official records preserve information about companies and operations, communities preserve additional histories through personal experiences, photographs, local traditions, and memories of work.

The factory’s history reflects a larger pattern found throughout New England. Many industrial buildings experienced multiple lives as economic conditions changed. A building created for one industry could later become valuable for another because of its location, size, infrastructure, and relationship to the surrounding community.

Examining the Waldoboro Button Factory requires looking beyond individual companies. The complete story is one of continuity and transformation: a single industrial site that supported different forms of manufacturing while remaining connected to the people who worked there and the community that surrounded it.

The Changing Historical Context: Manufacturing in Maine

The history of the Waldoboro Button Factory is part of the broader development of industrial communities throughout Maine and New England. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, manufacturing played an important role in shaping local economies, providing employment opportunities, and connecting small communities to regional and national markets.

Although Maine is often associated with natural resource industries such as forestry, fishing, and agriculture, manufacturing also contributed significantly to the state’s economic development. Small factories located throughout Maine produced a wide variety of goods, including footwear, textiles, wood products, and specialized manufactured items. These industries created opportunities for skilled labor and helped establish long-term relationships between communities and workplaces.

The growth of factory-based production changed the organization of manufacturing. Earlier forms of production often depended on individual craftsmen who completed entire products independently. Industrial factories introduced systems in which production was divided into specialized tasks. Workers performed specific operations within a larger process, allowing companies to increase efficiency and serve broader markets.

The early shoe manufacturing history of the Waldoboro factory reflects this larger industrial pattern. Shoe production became one of the most important manufacturing industries in New England during the nineteenth century. Companies developed specialized factory systems that combined skilled labor, machinery, and organized production methods. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps associated with the Waldoboro property document this type of industrial organization through their descriptions of production areas and building arrangements.⁵

Factories also became important social institutions within smaller communities. Beyond their economic function, they influenced daily life by providing employment, supporting families, and creating shared experiences among workers. The workplace became a setting where individuals developed skills, formed relationships, and contributed to the identity of the community.

However, industrial success was never permanent. Manufacturing businesses faced changing consumer demands, competition, technological developments, and economic pressures. Some factories expanded and modernized, while others closed or changed their purpose. The survival of an industrial building often depended on its ability to adapt to new conditions.

The Waldoboro factory demonstrates this process of adaptation. The property did not remain limited to its earliest manufacturing purpose. Instead, it continued through additional industrial periods, allowing the building to remain part of the community’s economic landscape.

This pattern was common throughout New England. Older factories frequently remained valuable because they already contained many features needed for manufacturing, including large work spaces, established infrastructure, and locations connected to transportation networks. Reusing existing industrial buildings allowed communities to maintain manufacturing activity even as individual industries changed.

The history of the Waldoboro factory therefore represents more than the history of a single product. It reflects a larger story of industrial change in which buildings, businesses, and workers adapted to new circumstances. The factory’s significance comes from the accumulation of these different periods and the connections between them.

Understanding this broader context provides a foundation for examining the factory’s individual manufacturing eras. The shoe factory, button manufacturing operation, and plastics production period each represent a different stage in the continuing history of a place shaped by industrial change.

The First Industrial Chapter: The Shoe Factory

The earliest documented industrial history of the Waldoboro factory begins with its role as a shoe manufacturing facility. Before the property became associated with the Button Factory name, it operated as part of the nineteenth-century footwear industry, a period when shoe production was one of the most important manufacturing activities in New England.

The surviving Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provide the primary documentary evidence for this early period. These maps were created to document buildings, construction materials, industrial uses, and fire risks for insurance purposes. Although their purpose was not to record complete business histories, they provide valuable information about the physical organization and industrial function of the factory.⁶

The November 1891 Sanborn Map identified the property as the W. H. Daniels & Company Shoe Factory (Men’s). The map documented a multi-story industrial building containing areas associated with different stages of footwear production. The arrangement included storage areas, leather-related operations, cutting and production spaces, stitching areas, finishing areas, and packing operations.⁷

The organization of the building reflects the manufacturing methods of the period. Shoe production required the coordination of multiple specialized tasks, and factory layouts were designed to move materials efficiently through each stage of production. Workers performed individual operations that contributed to the completion of finished footwear.

This system represented a major change from earlier craft-based production. Industrial shoe factories brought together machinery, specialized labor, and organized workflows in a single location. The Waldoboro factory’s layout reflects this broader transformation in manufacturing practices during the late nineteenth century.

The factory also illustrates the importance of specialized industries in smaller Maine communities. Manufacturing facilities provided employment and connected local workers to larger markets. A factory could become an important economic institution, influencing not only production but also community life.

The industrial identity of the property changed during the 1890s. The December 1894 Sanborn Map identified the location as the E. O. Clark Saw & Planing Mill, with reference to shipwork, indicating that the site experienced a period of changing industrial use.⁸ This record demonstrates that the property was not fixed to one industry but could be adapted to different manufacturing purposes.

By November 1896, the property was again identified as a shoe manufacturing facility. The Sanborn Map listed the location as the Evans, Bell & Clark Company Shoe Factory (Men’s) and documented production areas associated with footwear manufacturing.⁹ The repeated identification of the property as a shoe factory confirms the importance of this industry during the early history of the site.

The factory’s early decades reveal an important pattern in industrial history: manufacturing locations often experienced periods of transition even while remaining economically significant. Ownership, company names, and production activities could change, but the building continued to serve as a place of industrial work.

By the early twentieth century, the shoe manufacturing era was coming to an end. The October 1904 Sanborn Map identified the property as a vacant factory while noting that shoe machinery remained inside the building.¹⁰ The January 1912 Sanborn Map similarly described the property as a vacant factory with shoe machinery still present.¹¹

These records provide evidence of a gradual industrial transition rather than a sudden disappearance. The machinery remained as a physical reminder of the factory’s earlier purpose, preserving a connection to the workers and production activities associated with the shoe manufacturing period.

The shoe factory era established the foundation for the later history of the Waldoboro property. The building’s size, layout, and industrial character allowed it to continue serving manufacturing purposes after the footwear industry declined. The later button and plastics manufacturing periods were made possible because the property had already developed as an adaptable industrial space.

The first chapter of the factory’s history therefore demonstrates a central theme that continues throughout the manuscript: industrial places survive through change. Products may change, companies may change, and technologies may change, but buildings can preserve the history of the industries and communities connected to them.

The Transition to the Button Manufacturing Era

The end of the shoe manufacturing period did not mark the end of the Waldoboro factory’s industrial importance. Instead, the property entered a new stage of use in which the existing building, infrastructure, and industrial character allowed it to support another form of manufacturing. The transition from footwear production to button manufacturing illustrates a common pattern in industrial history: factories often survived by adapting to new products, technologies, and markets.

Industrial buildings represented significant investments. Constructing a factory required resources, planning, and connections to transportation, utilities, and labor networks. When an original industry declined, the building itself often remained valuable because it could support future manufacturing activities. Older factories frequently became attractive locations for new businesses because they already contained the basic features necessary for production.

The Waldoboro property followed this pattern of industrial reuse. Although the shoe manufacturing era ended, the building continued as an industrial site. Later property records document the continuing importance of the property and provide evidence of its connection to subsequent manufacturing periods.¹²

The transition into button manufacturing became the period that most strongly shaped the later identity of the site. While the earlier shoe factory represented the property’s first documented industrial chapter, the button manufacturing era created the association that led to the building being remembered as the Waldoboro Button Factory.

Button manufacturing reflected the continuing importance of specialized production in small industrial communities. Like shoe manufacturing, button production required organized processes, equipment, and skilled labor. Workers contributed to different stages of manufacturing, transforming raw materials into finished products through coordinated production methods.

The change from shoes to buttons demonstrates that industrial continuity does not always depend on producing the same goods. A factory’s importance often comes from its ability to provide a stable place for employment and production even as industries change. The building remained significant because it continued to serve the needs of manufacturers and workers.

Property records are essential for understanding this period because they establish the legal history of the site. Deeds document ownership changes, transfers, and the continuing existence of the industrial property. While deeds do not always describe daily manufacturing operations, they provide the framework necessary to understand how the property moved through different periods of ownership.¹³

Federal environmental records contribute another layer of information about the later industrial history of the site. These records document facility information, operators, and regulatory history connected to industrial activity. They help connect the earlier manufacturing history of the factory with later twentieth-century industrial operations.¹⁴

The button manufacturing period also represents an important stage in community memory. Industrial buildings are often remembered not only by the products they produced but by the people who worked there. For many communities, a factory name becomes associated with generations of employment, personal experiences, and local identity.

The Waldoboro Button Factory therefore represents more than a change in manufacturing products. It represents a continuation of industrial life within an existing community. The building remained a place where workers gathered, skills were developed, and goods were produced.

The transition from shoe manufacturing to button manufacturing demonstrates the resilience of older industrial spaces. Rather than becoming obsolete after the decline of their original purpose, many factories found new roles. Their survival depended on adaptability, but their historical meaning came from the accumulation of experiences connected to each period of use.

The button manufacturing era added another important layer to the history of the Waldoboro factory. It preserved the building’s role as a workplace and strengthened the connection between the property and the surrounding community. The factory continued to evolve, but it remained a place defined by manufacturing and human activity.

Workers, Community, and the Meaning of the Factory

The history of the Waldoboro Button Factory is not only a history of buildings and manufacturing processes. It is also a history of the people who worked within the facility and the community that developed around it. Industrial places gain their lasting significance through human experiences as much as through the products they produce.

During each period of operation, the factory served as a workplace where employees contributed their labor, knowledge, and skills. The shoe manufacturing period required workers to participate in specialized production tasks. Later button and plastics manufacturing operations continued this tradition of organized industrial labor, with employees contributing to changing production systems and technologies.

Factories in small communities often became important economic and social institutions. Employment at a local factory could influence household stability, family decisions, and community relationships. Workers developed specialized abilities, formed connections with coworkers, and created shared experiences that extended beyond the factory walls.

The Waldoboro factory reflects this relationship between industry and community. Although the products produced at the site changed over time, the building remained a familiar place associated with employment and manufacturing. Each generation of workers contributed another layer to the history of the property.

Official records preserve some aspects of industrial history more effectively than others. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provide information about building layout, manufacturing use, and industrial organization. Property deeds preserve ownership history. Federal environmental records document later facility information and industrial activity. However, these records generally provide limited information about the personal experiences of individual workers.¹⁵

Understanding the human history of the factory requires additional types of evidence. Oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, historical society collections, and personal accounts can reveal details that official documents do not record. These sources may provide insight into daily working conditions, relationships among employees, and the role the factory played within community life.

The absence of extensive worker documentation does not reduce the importance of the people connected to the factory. Industrial history is often shaped by ordinary experiences that are not fully preserved in official records. The workers who operated machinery, managed materials, maintained equipment, and supported production were essential to every manufacturing era of the site.

The factory also demonstrates how workplaces become part of community identity. A building may begin as a place designed for economic activity, but over time it becomes associated with memories, families, and local history. The name “Waldoboro Button Factory” carries meaning because it represents not only a manufacturing process but also the people and experiences connected to the place.

The importance of preserving industrial history comes partly from this connection between physical spaces and human stories. When an industrial building disappears, a community loses more than a structure. It loses a visible reminder of the workers and industries that helped shape local history.

The Waldoboro factory represents the importance of smaller industrial sites in American history. Large factories often receive greater attention, but smaller facilities played equally important roles in communities throughout Maine. They provided employment, supported families, and connected local residents to broader economic systems.

The factory’s history shows that industrial heritage is created through both physical and human elements. The building provided the space for manufacturing, but the workers gave the place meaning. Their efforts connected the factory to the community and ensured that its history extended beyond the products manufactured there.

The story of the Waldoboro Button Factory is therefore a story of people as much as industry. The building’s changing uses reveal economic and technological change, but the experiences of workers and community members explain why the site remains historically significant.

The Plastics Manufacturing Era

The later history of the Waldoboro factory reflects another significant transformation in American manufacturing: the movement toward industries based on synthetic materials and modern production technologies. After the button manufacturing period, the property continued as an industrial site through plastics-related manufacturing activities. This period demonstrates the continued adaptability of the factory and its ability to support changing forms of production.

The rise of plastics manufacturing during the twentieth century represented a major shift in industrial materials. Synthetic materials offered manufacturers new possibilities in product design, durability, and production efficiency. As plastics became increasingly common in consumer and industrial products, companies developed new manufacturing processes that required different equipment, skills, and production methods.

The Waldoboro factory’s plastics manufacturing history is documented primarily through federal environmental records and property documentation. Unlike Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, which provide detailed information about building layouts and industrial arrangements during earlier periods, environmental records focus on facility identification, operators, industrial activities, and regulatory history. Together, these records provide evidence of the property’s continued role as a manufacturing location during the later twentieth century.¹⁶

The transition into plastics manufacturing followed the same broader pattern of adaptation that characterized the factory’s earlier changes. The building remained useful because it already existed as an industrial facility. Its size, layout, and established infrastructure allowed later manufacturers to use the property for new production purposes.

This ability to adapt was one of the most important characteristics of successful industrial buildings. A factory’s long-term value was often determined not only by its original purpose but also by its capacity to accommodate new industries. The Waldoboro factory’s history demonstrates how industrial structures could remain economically relevant even as manufacturing technologies changed.

Property records provide additional context for understanding this period by documenting ownership continuity and legal changes associated with the site. These records establish the history of the property itself, while environmental records provide information about later industrial activity. Together, they help create a more complete picture of the factory’s development.¹⁷

The plastics era also represents an important technological transition. Earlier manufacturing periods depended heavily on materials such as leather and other traditional products. Plastics manufacturing reflected a newer industrial economy shaped by synthetic materials, changing consumer markets, and evolving production methods.

Despite these technological changes, the fundamental role of the building remained consistent. It continued to function as a workplace where employees participated in manufacturing processes. Workers operated equipment, managed materials, and contributed to production within the same industrial environment that had supported earlier generations of manufacturing.

The plastics period also connects the Waldoboro factory to broader national changes in industry. Many older manufacturing communities experienced similar transitions as companies responded to new technologies and global economic pressures. Some factories closed when they could not adapt, while others continued by accepting new industries and uses.

The continued operation of the Waldoboro factory through a plastics manufacturing period demonstrates the resilience of the property. The building was not defined by one product alone; instead, its significance came from its ability to support different forms of manufacturing across generations.

The plastics manufacturing era therefore represents another important layer in the history of the site. It illustrates how industrial buildings can preserve evidence of technological change while maintaining connections to earlier periods of work and community life.

By examining the shoe, button, and plastics manufacturing periods together, the Waldoboro factory emerges as a record of industrial evolution. Each period contributed to the identity of the property and demonstrates how communities adapted to changing economic circumstances.

The End of Manufacturing and the Changing Status of the Property

The conclusion of active manufacturing at the Waldoboro factory represents another important stage in the history of the property. After more than a century of industrial activity, the site eventually moved away from its original role as a place of production. This transition reflects a broader pattern experienced by many historic industrial properties throughout New England, where factories changed from active workplaces into places of historical significance.

The end of manufacturing was not simply a single moment when industrial activity stopped. In many cases, industrial decline occurred through a gradual process involving changes in markets, ownership, production methods, and economic conditions. A factory could experience reduced activity, changes in operators, or shifts in purpose before reaching the end of active manufacturing.

The documentary record associated with the Waldoboro property provides evidence of this later transition. Federal environmental records document information related to facility history, operators, and industrial activity, while property records preserve the legal history of ownership and changes affecting the site. Together, these records provide a framework for understanding the movement of the property from an active industrial facility toward a different historical role.¹⁸

The transition away from manufacturing changed the relationship between the factory and the surrounding community. During its operating years, the building was primarily understood as a workplace. Employees arrived there to produce goods, businesses relied on its operations, and the factory contributed directly to the local economy. After manufacturing ended, the meaning of the building shifted from a place of daily production to a physical record of the industries and people associated with its past.

This transformation is common among former industrial properties. When production ends, communities often begin to view these buildings differently. A factory that once represented employment and economic activity can later become a symbol of local history, technological change, and community experience.

The Waldoboro factory’s importance comes partly from the number of industrial periods represented within the same property. The building preserves evidence of multiple manufacturing eras, including shoe production, button manufacturing, and plastics-related operations. Each period reflects different economic conditions and technologies, but together they form a continuous story of adaptation.

The records associated with the factory demonstrate the importance of preserving industrial documentation. No single source provides the complete history of the site. Instead, the story emerges from the combination of different records:

• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps document early industrial use, building organization, and changes in occupancy.

• Property deeds document ownership history and legal continuity.

• Federal environmental records document later industrial operations and facility history.

• Community sources provide opportunities to understand personal experiences and local memory.

Together, these sources reveal a property shaped by repeated cycles of change. The factory remained significant because it adapted to new industries, but its lasting importance comes from the people and communities connected to those industries.

The end of manufacturing also raises important questions about preservation. Former factories often present challenges because they were designed for industrial work rather than long-term historical preservation. Their future depends on recognizing both their physical condition and their cultural importance.

The Waldoboro factory represents the broader challenge of preserving industrial heritage: maintaining connections to the past while considering the future of historic places. The value of such a site does not exist only in its machinery or architecture, but also in the stories it preserves about work, technology, and community development.

The end of manufacturing therefore does not represent the end of the factory’s history. Instead, it marks a change in the type of historical role the property serves. The building moved from being an active center of production to becoming a record of the industries, workers, and experiences that shaped its history.

Preservation and Historical Meaning

The history of the Waldoboro Button Factory demonstrates the importance of preserving industrial places as records of economic change, technological development, and community experience. The value of an industrial building extends beyond the products once manufactured inside it. These places preserve evidence of how people worked, how industries changed, and how communities developed over time.

Industrial buildings are physical records of human activity. Their layouts, materials, and relationship to surrounding communities provide insight into earlier periods of manufacturing. In the case of the Waldoboro factory, the surviving documentary record reveals a property that experienced multiple industrial identities while maintaining a continuous connection to production and employment.

The historical importance of the factory comes from the combination of its different manufacturing periods. The shoe manufacturing era connects the property to nineteenth-century industrial development in Maine. The button manufacturing era represents a period when the building became closely associated with local memory and employment. The plastics manufacturing period demonstrates adaptation to twentieth-century technological and economic changes.

Preservation does not require a historic building to remain unchanged. In many cases, the most significant industrial sites are those that demonstrate adaptation over time. The Waldoboro factory’s history is meaningful because it shows how one building could continue serving different purposes while maintaining its connection to manufacturing.

The documentary sources associated with the property demonstrate the importance of preserving historical records. Different sources reveal different aspects of the factory’s development. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provide evidence of early industrial use and building organization. Property deeds establish legal continuity and ownership history. Federal environmental records document later industrial activity and facility information. Together, these records allow the factory’s story to be reconstructed across generations.¹⁹

Preserving industrial history also requires recognizing the experiences of workers. Official records often focus on companies, buildings, and regulations, but communities remember factories through personal connections. Former employees, families, and residents often associate industrial places with important parts of their lives. These memories contribute to the meaning of the site.

The Waldoboro factory represents the importance of smaller industrial properties within American history. While large industrial complexes often receive greater attention, smaller factories played essential roles in towns throughout Maine. They provided employment, supported families, and connected local communities to wider economic systems.

The factory’s history also reflects broader patterns in New England industry. Many older manufacturing buildings survived because they could adapt to changing conditions. Their continued usefulness depended on their ability to accommodate new industries, but their historical value came from the accumulation of experiences associated with each period.

The significance of the Waldoboro Button Factory therefore lies in continuity through change. The companies changed, the products changed, and the technologies changed, but the property remained connected to manufacturing and community life for generations.

Industrial heritage is ultimately about relationships between places and people. The factory provided the physical setting for production, but workers and communities created the meaning attached to the building. Preserving the history of the Waldoboro factory preserves not only an industrial structure, but also the story of the people and industries that shaped it.

Conclusion

The history of the Waldoboro Button Factory is a story of industrial continuity, adaptation, and community connection. Over more than a century, the property experienced multiple phases of manufacturing, beginning with its documented role as a shoe factory and continuing through later periods of button and plastics production. Each period reflected changing technologies, economic conditions, ownership patterns, and community needs.

The earliest documented history of the site connects the property to Maine’s nineteenth-century manufacturing economy. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provide evidence of the factory’s role in shoe production and reveal the organized nature of industrial work during this period. The building contained specialized production areas designed to support the manufacturing process, demonstrating the importance of factory-based systems in regional industry.

The decline of shoe manufacturing did not end the significance of the property. Instead, the factory adapted to new circumstances and entered additional industrial periods. The transition into button manufacturing demonstrates how existing industrial buildings could continue serving communities by accommodating different forms of production. The later plastics manufacturing era further illustrates the ability of older industrial spaces to remain useful as technologies and markets changed.

The Waldoboro factory also demonstrates that industrial history is not only about products and companies. The people who worked within the building created an essential part of its identity. Generations of employees contributed their labor and skills, transforming the factory from a physical structure into a place connected to community memory and local experience.

The documentary record of the factory shows the importance of using multiple sources to reconstruct industrial history. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provide evidence of early building use and production organization. Property deeds establish ownership history and legal continuity. Federal environmental records document later industrial activity and facility history. Together, these sources create a more complete understanding of the property’s development.²⁰

The factory’s significance comes from the relationship between continuity and change. The building survived because it adapted to different industries, but its historical importance comes from the many layers of activity preserved within its history. Each manufacturing period added another chapter to the story of the site.

The Waldoboro Button Factory also represents a broader pattern in American industrial history. Across New England, many factories experienced cycles of growth, transition, and closure. These places reveal how communities responded to changing economic conditions while maintaining connections to work and industry.

The preservation of industrial history allows these stories to remain accessible. Former factories provide valuable evidence of technological development, labor history, and community identity. They remind us that ordinary workplaces often contain important historical information about the lives of the people who built and sustained local economies.

The Waldoboro Button Factory stands as an example of how one industrial property can preserve more than a record of manufacturing. It preserves the history of adaptation, the experiences of workers, and the relationship between a community and the industries that shaped it.

Its story is ultimately one of resilience: a place that changed repeatedly while maintaining a continuous connection to the people, products, and processes that defined its history.

Appendix A

Chronological Narrative of the Waldoboro Factory

(Appendix A footnotes restart at 1.)

The history of the Waldoboro factory can be understood as a sequence of industrial transitions in which the property remained connected to manufacturing while adapting to changing economic conditions, technologies, and markets. The following chronology summarizes the major documented periods of the site’s development.

Late Nineteenth Century: Shoe Manufacturing Era

The earliest documented industrial identity of the property was as a shoe manufacturing facility. The November 1891 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map identified the site as the W. H. Daniels & Company Shoe Factory (Men’s). The map documented a multi-story industrial building organized around specialized production areas associated with footwear manufacturing.

The factory layout reflected the organization of nineteenth-century shoe production. Different sections of the building were dedicated to specific stages of manufacturing, including storage, leather-related operations, cutting, stitching, finishing, and packing. This arrangement demonstrates the use of specialized labor and organized production methods common to industrial manufacturing during this period.¹

The factory was part of a larger regional pattern in which New England communities developed manufacturing operations that provided employment and connected local production to broader markets.

1894: Period of Industrial Transition

By December 1894, the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map identified the property as the E. O. Clark Saw & Planing Mill, with reference to shipwork. This documentation indicates that the property experienced a change in industrial use during the 1890s.²

This transition demonstrates that the factory was not limited to a single manufacturing purpose. Like many industrial properties of the period, it could be adapted to support different forms of production depending on economic opportunities and local demand.

1896: Return to Shoe Manufacturing

The November 1896 Sanborn Map again identified the property as a shoe factory, associated with the Evans, Bell & Clark Company Shoe Factory (Men’s). The map continued to document specialized manufacturing areas related to shoe production.³

This period represents the continuation of the property’s role within the footwear industry and demonstrates the importance of shoe manufacturing during the factory’s early history.

Early Twentieth Century: Decline of Shoe Production

By October 1904, the Sanborn Map identified the property as a vacant factory while noting that shoe machinery remained inside the building.⁴ The January 1912 Sanborn Map similarly described the property as a vacant factory and recorded the continued presence of shoe machinery.⁵

These records suggest that the transition away from shoe manufacturing occurred gradually. Although active production had ended, physical evidence of the earlier industrial period remained within the building.

Twentieth Century: Button Manufacturing Era

Following the decline of shoe manufacturing, the property entered a new phase associated with button manufacturing. This period became the basis for the building’s later identity as the Waldoboro Button Factory.

The button manufacturing era represents the continued use of the property as an industrial workplace. Although the products differed from those produced during the shoe manufacturing period, the building continued to support organized production and employment.

Ownership records and later industrial documentation provide evidence of the property’s continued significance as a manufacturing location. Deeds establish the legal history of the property, while later records help document the continued industrial use of the site.⁶

Late Twentieth Century: Plastics Manufacturing Era

The factory later became associated with plastics-related manufacturing. This period reflects broader changes in American industry as synthetic materials became increasingly important in manufacturing.

Federal environmental records document later facility information, including industrial activity and operator history associated with the property. These records provide evidence that the factory continued to serve as a manufacturing location during a period of significant technological change.⁷

The plastics era demonstrates the adaptability of the building and its ability to accommodate new industries beyond its original purpose.

Final Manufacturing Transition

After more than a century of industrial use, the property eventually moved away from active manufacturing. The end of production represented a change in the role of the building, but not the end of its historical importance.

The factory remained a record of multiple generations of industrial activity. Its history preserved evidence of changing products, technologies, ownership patterns, and community relationships.

Historical Significance

The Waldoboro factory represents a broader pattern found throughout New England industrial history. Many factories survived because they could adapt to changing conditions. Their importance comes not only from what they produced, but from the workers, businesses, and communities connected to them.

The chronological development of the property demonstrates a continuous theme: industrial places often survive through transformation. The Waldoboro factory’s changing uses reveal the ability of older industrial buildings to remain meaningful across generations.

Appendix A Notes

1. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

2. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, December 1894, sheet 1.

3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1896, sheet 2.

4. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, October 1904, sheet 3.

5. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, January 1912, sheet 3.

6. Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Waldoboro, Maine, Property Deeds and Ownership Records.

7. Federal Environmental Records Relating to the Waldoboro Industrial Facility, Facility History and Operator Documentation.

Appendix B

Industrial Ownership and Manufacturing Transition Narrative

(Appendix B footnotes restart at 1.)

The history of the Waldoboro factory is defined by repeated periods of industrial transition. The property remained important not because it produced the same goods throughout its history, but because it continued to function as a manufacturing location through changing economic conditions, ownership arrangements, and production methods.

Understanding the ownership and manufacturing history of the site requires distinguishing between two related but separate histories: the legal history of the property and the operational history of the businesses that used it. Deeds document ownership and transfers of real property, while industrial records provide evidence of manufacturing activity and facility operations. Together, these sources provide a framework for understanding the development of the factory over time.

Early Industrial Ownership and Shoe Manufacturing

The earliest documented industrial period connects the property with shoe manufacturing in the late nineteenth century. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps identify the site as a shoe factory and document the building’s organization around footwear production.

The appearance of different company names in the historical record reflects the changing business relationships associated with the property. The W. H. Daniels & Company Shoe Factory and the Evans, Bell & Clark Company Shoe Factory represent documented phases of the site’s early manufacturing history.¹

During this period, the factory operated within the broader New England shoe manufacturing industry. The building’s specialized production areas demonstrate the importance of organized industrial processes and skilled labor.

Industrial Transition and Property Continuity

The factory’s history demonstrates that industrial buildings often continued to serve communities even when individual companies or products changed. A manufacturing facility represented a significant investment, and its continued use depended on its ability to adapt.

The transition away from shoe manufacturing did not eliminate the value of the property. Instead, the building remained available for future industrial purposes. This continuity allowed later manufacturing activities to develop within an existing industrial setting.

Property deeds provide evidence of ownership continuity and legal changes affecting the site. These records establish the history of the property itself and help connect different periods of use. However, ownership records must be interpreted separately from operational records because property ownership does not always identify the companies conducting manufacturing activities.²

Button Manufacturing Period

The button manufacturing era became the period most closely associated with the later identity of the property. During this period, the factory continued to serve as a workplace and manufacturing location.

The transition to button production demonstrates the adaptability of industrial buildings. The factory’s continued use depended on its ability to accommodate different manufacturing requirements while maintaining its role as a productive industrial space.

This period also strengthened the connection between the factory and local memory. The name “Waldoboro Button Factory” reflects how communities often identify historic places through the industries and workers most closely associated with them.

Plastics Manufacturing Period

The later plastics manufacturing period represents another major technological transition. Synthetic materials changed many areas of manufacturing during the twentieth century, creating new industries and production methods.

Federal environmental records provide documentation of later industrial activity at the property, including facility information and operator history. These records demonstrate that the site continued to function as a manufacturing location after earlier industries had ended.³

The plastics period reinforces the broader theme of adaptation that defines the factory’s history. The building remained useful because it could support new forms of production.

End of Manufacturing and Historical Transition

Eventually, the property moved away from active manufacturing. This transition represents a common experience among older industrial sites throughout New England.

When manufacturing ends, a factory’s role changes. It no longer functions primarily as a workplace, but it continues to serve as a historical record. The building preserves evidence of the industries, workers, and communities connected to its past.

The Waldoboro factory therefore represents more than a sequence of businesses. It represents a continuous industrial landscape shaped by changing technologies, economic conditions, and human experiences.

Appendix B Notes

1. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2; Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1896, sheet 2.

2. Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Waldoboro, Maine, Property Deeds and Ownership Records.

3. Federal Environmental Records Relating to the Waldoboro Industrial Facility, Facility History and Operator Documentation.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, December 1894.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1896.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, October 1904.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, January 1912.

Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Waldoboro, Maine, Property Deeds and Ownership Records.

Federal Environmental Records Relating to the Waldoboro Industrial Facility, Facility History and Operator Documentation.

Secondary Sources

Freinkel, Susan, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.

Meikle, Jeffrey L., American Plastic: A Cultural History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995.

Main Manuscript Footnotes

Continuous List 1–20 (Abstract through Conclusion)

1. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

2. Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Waldoboro, Maine, Property Deeds and Ownership Records.

3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

4. Federal Environmental Records Relating to the Waldoboro Industrial Facility, Facility History and Operator Documentation.

5. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

6. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

7. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

8. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, December 1894, sheet 1.

9. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1896, sheet 2.

10. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, October 1904, sheet 3.

11. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, January 1912, sheet 3.

12. Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Waldoboro, Maine, Property Deeds and Ownership Records.

13. Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Waldoboro, Maine, Property Deeds and Ownership Records.

14. Federal Environmental Records Relating to the Waldoboro Industrial Facility, Facility History and Operator Documentation.

15. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

16. Federal Environmental Records Relating to the Waldoboro Industrial Facility, Facility History and Operator Documentation.

17. Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Waldoboro, Maine, Property Deeds and Ownership Records.

18. Federal Environmental Records Relating to the Waldoboro Industrial Facility, Facility History and Operator Documentation.

19. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

20. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891, sheet 2.

Bibliography

Continuous List Format

Primary Sources

1. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1891.

2. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, December 1894.

3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, November 1896.

4. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, October 1904.

5. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Waterboro, Maine, January 1912.

6. Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Waldoboro, Maine, Property Deeds and Ownership Records.

7. Federal Environmental Records Relating to the Waldoboro Industrial Facility, Facility History and Operator Documentation.

Secondary Sources

8. Freinkel, Susan, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.

9. Meikle, Jeffrey L., American Plastic: A Cultural History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995.

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

.As shipbuilding along the Medomak River declined in the late 1880s, Waldoboro sought new industries to support its economy. In 1888, the town heavily invested in constructing the Waldoboro Shoe Factory, covering most of the $32,000 cost. The four-story, 30,000-square-foot building operated using gasoline engines and a system of belts and pulleys, as electricity was not yet available. Although the factory was designed to support the local workforce, it only produced shoes for a short time before becoming vacant.

The building remained unused until 1920, when the Holub, Dusha Company repurposed it for manufacturing button machinery parts. This marked the beginning of a new era for the site. In 1921, the Paragon Button Corporation began making pearl buttons from imported shells. The company grew to employ about 82 people in Waldoboro and contributed to the town's industrial base for decades. This operation continued under new ownership after Stanley and Rolsala Gerson of Patrician Plastics purchased the facility in 1943.

Under the Gersons, the factory transitioned from pearl to plastic button production in 1957. By 1981, the workforce had declined to just 25–30 employees, but they still produced large quantities of buttons, dice, dominoes, and poker chips. The factory eventually closed in the early 1980s, and since then, the historic building has not housed any formal businesses, reflecting the broader industrial shifts that shaped Waldoboro's economic history.