Washington Street Shoe District

Downtown Haverhill's Washington Street Shoe District covers roughly 11 acres of brick factory and commercial buildings erected between 1856 and 1930. Shoe manufacturing became the city's leading industry by the mid-19th century, and factories moved westward toward the railroad that brought shoe buyers to town. On the night of February 17, 1882, a fire leveled nearly ten acres, destroying fifteen major blocks and putting more than 3,000 people out of work. Rebuilding began within days, and most of the district dates from that single year. Architects Josiah M. Littlefield and C. Willis Damon designed many of the buildings, which display panel brickwork, terra cotta, brownstone and sandstone trim, and styles from Italianate to Queen Anne and Romanesque. Haverhill shoes won medals at several international expositions, earning the city the nickname Queen Slipper City of the World. Apart from altered ground-floor storefronts, the upper facades remain largely intact and no modern buildings have intruded.