__NOTOC__ The Henry Wilson Shoe Shop is an historic "ten footer" building located at 181 West Central Street, Route 135 in

Natick Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, USA. Built in the 1850s, it was the shoe shop of

Henry Wilson Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was the 18th vice president of the United States, serving from 1873 until his death in 1875, and a United States Senate, senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...

, a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from

and the eighteenth

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

. On July 24, 2000, it was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. A ten footer is a small backyard shop structure that was built in the 18th and 19th centuries in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

to serve as a shoemaker's shop. The name came from the fact that the floor dimensions were usually about . The ten footers were forerunners of the large shoe factories that developed in New England later in the 19th century.Hunter, Ethel A., ''The Ten-Footers of New England'' in Parks, Roger, editor, ''The New England Galaxy: The best of 20 years from Old Sturbridge Village'', Chester Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, 1980, pp. 134-139,

Notes

Sources

* Hunter, Ethel A., ''The Ten-Footers of New England'' in Parks, Roger, editor, ''The New England Galaxy: The best of 20 years from Old Sturbridge Village'', Chester Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, 1980, pp. 134–139,

External links

Boston Marathon mile 8.5

Natick Historical Society page

Library of Congress Historic American Buildings resources
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Natick, Massachusetts British shoemakers Retail buildings in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Commercial buildings completed in the 19th century 1850s establishments in Massachusetts Henry Wilson {{MiddlesexCountyMA-NRHP-stub

See also

Notes

Sources

External links