Kreider Shoe Manufacturing Company
Why it's listed
Completed in 1905 on South Poplar Street in Elizabethtown, this brick shoe factory rises three to four stories around a central courtyard, with a U-shaped plan and a limestone foundation. Its exterior walls are laid in common bond and have never been painted. The South Poplar Street facade is articulated by 21 repetitive bays with raised brick pilasters, dentils and a corbelled parapet cornice. The Kreider Shoe Manufacturing Company bought the unimproved lot in 1904 for $1,000. Its construction marks a period when shoe manufacturing was central to the town's economy for roughly fifty years. The company, later known as The A. S. Kreider Co., was one of the two leading shoe manufacturers in Lancaster County during the 1920s. The building is regarded as the finest early twentieth-century industrial structure in Elizabethtown and as a tangible record of the regional shoe trade through about 1954, when the property was sold.
Significance in brief: The building is linked to the shoe industry, which was of key importance to Elizabethtown's economy for about half a century. The nomination regards it as the finest early twentieth-century industrial building in Elizabethtown and as comparable favorably with other industrial buildings in Lancaster County. Its late Victorian forms and materials are presented as an example of factory architecture of the period c. 1890-1920.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 80003515, listed June 27, 1980. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 155 S. Poplar St., Elizabethtown |
|---|---|
| County | Lancaster County |
| Listed | June 27, 1980 |
| Reference number | 80003515 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1905 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The exterior is described as about 90% intact, with the company later renamed The A. S. Kreider Co. and the property sold in 1954 to the Elizabethtown Garment Company. |
| Acreage | 1.6 |
| Coordinates | 40.14881, -76.60573 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 80003515.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q6436595
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.