Plant (Thomas) Shoe Factory is built.

[1910] Built by Thomas Plant, it is located at 309 Centre Street. The largest women’s shoe factory in the world, it employs some 5,200 people and produces some 3 million pairs of shoes per year. A gymnasium, shower facilities, a 3,000-volume library, music hall, a lunchroom that serves 1,000 per meal, and a rooftop garden for workers are added in 1903 and a nursery to care for the children of workers (half of whom are women) is added in 1918. The company is subsequently taken over by United Shoe and the factory closes in 1929. The building is subsequently converted for use by small businesses and artists. It is destroyed by a fire in 1976.*