{"nrhp_refnum":"85000550","name":"Smith Shoe Shop","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"273 Haverhill St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.542659083000046,"lon":-71.08853848599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-02-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small clapboard and vertical-board outbuilding, about 10 by 15 feet, used as a shoemaking shop at 273 Haverhill Street in Reading, Massachusetts. It dates from about 1845 and sits beside a house.","why_significant":"It is described as the best surviving example of the \"ten-footer\" shoemaking shop, a small building type that played a large role in Reading's shoe industry. The form says it keeps its integrity of location, design, materials and workmanship, and it is evaluated under Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Located beside a house at 273 Haverhill Street in Reading, this small shop of about 10 by 15 feet was built around 1845, as indicated by a 1854 map and visual analysis. It is clad in clapboard and vertical board. It is one of the local \"ten-footers,\" the nickname for the small shops that dotted the town where shoes were made by hand. Reading's shoemaking dated back to the 1700s, and by the nineteenth century nearly every family worked at binding and stretching shoes. The town specialized in dancing pumps in the 1830s and later in infant and children's shoes. After the Civil War, sewing machines moved production from cottage work to factories, and Reading lost business to towns with more factories, though it kept making shoes into the twentieth century. This shop is regarded as the best surviving example of its type and retains its location, design, materials and workmanship. It is in fair to poor condition and is used for storage.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Recorded in fair to poor condition; current use listed as storage.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.6404-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/37/7922/63792237/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85000550.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000550/5d34221fd9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000550/5d34221fd9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Outbuilding_at_273_Haverhill_Street,_Reading_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Outbuilding_at_273_Haverhill_Street,_Reading_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792237","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Shoe_Shop","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7545319"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/smith-shoe-shop-85000550/"}