Old Shoe Factory in Cape Girardeau

Southeast Missourian archive

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The five-story shoe factory building on North Main Street in Cape Girardeau was built in 1907 for the Roberts, Johnson and Rand Shoe Co. It was later the International Shoe Co. In 1935, International was making about 12 million pairs of shoes a year with a peak workforce of 1600. The factory was later owned by Florsheim Shoe Co. The building was abandoned in 1984 and demolished in 1990.

Undated aerial of International Shoe Co. on North Main Street, taken from the east.
Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Co. on North Main Street, circa 1920. View is from the southwest.
Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Co. on North Main Street. Undated, but after north addition was built. View from the southwest.
International Shoe Co. on North Main, taken May 1951. View from the south.

Aerial showing International Shoe Co. on North Main Street, as well as the surrounding Red Star area, 1939.
Shoe factory at night, undated.
Employees of the cutting department of International Shoe Co., North Main Street, 1933.
1951 flood at shoe factory
Florsheim Shoe Co. on North Main Street, 1978. View from the southeast.

Florsheim Shoe Co. on North Main Street, Feb. 26, 1984. View from the south.
Florsheim Shoe Co. on North Main Street, 1988. The structure was donated to the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce in 1984. Demolition of the building was completed in 1990. View is from the north.