A 19th-century shoe shed in town is undergoing renovations with the hopes of it becoming a museum.
The shoe shed, owned by the town, is located at the foot of Fountain Park on Orne Street. It was leased by a local resident for 50 years and used for storage. When that resident passed away, the town took it back in 2016 and reached out to Chris Butler, a history buff in town and building inspector at the time. The building needed some work.
“There was two feet of dirt on the uphill side. There was rotting and the windows were a mess,” said Butler, who is now associate commissioner for the Marblehead Historical Commission.
The so-called 10-footer (because it is 10-feet wide) dates back to the 1800s. Though Marblehead is known for its early fishing fleet, a bustling shoe industry emerged after a hurricane wiped out over 60 vessels and temporarily devastated the fishing economy. Additionally, about a quarter of the Marblehead population at the time was fighting in the Civil War. As fishermen began shifting to the shoe industry, large shoe factories were built in Marblehead, with over a dozen downtown. Workers could pick up leather at a factory in town to bring back to a small shed in their backyards and do piecework. Women’s and children’s shoes were of primary focus, says the commission’s summer intern Jonah Cadorette.
“People would work on shoes when they could and sell them back to the factory,” Butler said.
Butler has come across three or four 10-footers in Marblehead. Some he has taken down, some Butler has renovated. Butler rated this particular building on a scale of one to 10. He deemed it a 1.5 structurally, but “historically for the town of Marblehead, it was an 11.”
With the help of Cadorette, Butler has replaced one of the windows, installing what’s called a six-over-six true divided light window to ensure historical accuracy. An extension to the ten-footer has been removed, and the shingling on the right side is being replaced. There’s also a meter socket and wiring inside the building that Butler wants to remove.
“You want authenticity, so get that electrical out of there, you don’t need that,” he said.
Next steps for the 10-footer include doing some cleanup on the inside. Rough plans for the interior include setting up an example of an old cobbler’s bench. Butler says a handicapped path is also being proposed to make the shed more accessible to visitors. All the improvements are funded with donations.
