Connolly Shoe Company
The building is located on Second and Commercial Street near the Old Post Office and The Lowell Inn. The historical photo is from the John Runk Collection courtesy of the Stillwater Public Library. The time tunnel takes you from 2018 to 1929.
Connolly Shoe Company Building
by Robert Molenda
Back in 1905 the people in Stillwater, twenty-four in number, were worried about what was going to happen in Stillwater when the lumber boom ran out of trees. One of the resources that they had was a manager of the shoe shop at the Territorial Prison. He put people to work making shoes and they turned out to be of very good quality, made of leather, sturdy and almost waterproof. The concerned citizens financed a building for the purpose of manufacturing work shoes for men and boys. This would help secure employment for citizens and help out the local economy. Mr. Thomas F. Connolly was the manager of the prison shoe shop and he became the manufacturing manager of the new enterprise. The building had three floors, good lighting and lots of open space for modern machinery for making shoes. Mr. J.J. Eichten was named President and Mr. E. Torinus was named Vice-president. The Eichten and Torinus names are well-known since the early days of Stillwater and its genesis in the lumber industry. Were they some of the original investors ? It was located across Second Street from the Sawyer house and would be near the new Post Office.
This is a view to the Northeast of the Connolly Shoe Company. Second Street appears to be a dirt surface and the garden is not yet in place. The time tunnel takes you from 2017 to about the 1910 time period. The historic photo is from the John Runk Collection courtesy of the Stillwater Public Library.
