Kyle Rancourt was born in 1984 to a family who had owned shoe businesses for generations in Lewiston. Kyle discusses his memories of his parents’ business from when he was a child, to now, as he’s followed in his their footsteps to work in the shoe industry. He...
Herb Koss was born in Lewiston in 1935 following his parents’ arrival to the area. They were originally from Russia, arriving in Massachusetts first before moving up to Maine. His father and his uncle pulled together money to open their own shoe shop up here in...
Upon graduating from university, David Quinn was drawn to Maine’s natural beauty, and left his home state of Connecticut to teach tennis and work in a local mill in Augusta. Inspired by his childhood nostalgia for slipper socks, and with the help of Ted Johanson at...
Henry Gilbert was born in Lewiston and worked in the brickyards for the summers, lumber for the winters. He shares a lot of details about the brickmaking process, as it was all piecework and they would get paid for the quantity of bricks made. He was a striker and...
John Allard started in the shoe industry at the age of 15, swapping locations here and there. He then worked at Falcon Shoe for about four times, coming back several times after either being fired or quitting. He was a shoe cutter and also a leather assessor. He...
