Converse Rubber Shoe Company is established in Medford.

Founded by Marquis Mills Converse, a former Boston department store manager, the company initially manufactures winter boots, but introduces a basketball shoe in 1917. The shoe is called the All Star in 1920, then the Chuck Taylor All Star, after a former Indiana high school basketball star who joined the company as a salesman in 1932, and goes on to become the most popular sneaker in the U.S. After losing market share in that area to new companies, the company is purchased by Nike in 2003 and moves its headquarters to Boston in 2015.*