1930 “Makes of Planes” (H323)
Commonwealth Shoe and Leather Company, Whitman, Massachusetts, USA

Series Title: Makes of Planes
American Card Catalog Number: H323
Issued by: Commonwealth Shoe and Leather Company
Issued with: Commonwealth Juniors Shoes for Boys
Country: Whitman, Massachusetts, USA
Number of Cards: 12
Card Numbering: skip-numbered 4 to 47
Type of Card: Retail and Mail-Order
Card Dimensions: 48.1 × 74.3 mm
Circa: 1930

Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company

The Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company is now a historic factory complex at 7 Marble Street in Whitman, Massachusetts. The Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company was formed in 1885 by the merger of Charles H. Jones & Co. and Bay State Shoe & Leather Co. The company produced the hugely popular Bostonian shoe. The Whitman factory complex was its original site. The company was known for high quality and comfort, The Bostonian product line of shoes is still sold today. The Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company factory complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

The Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. was a successor to a few of Whitman, Massachusetts’ early shoe factories. Among its predecessors were the Marcus S. Reed Factory, begun c.1865 in South Abington (later called Whitman). The Reed factory operated on another site as a small boot and shoe factory under various names. Another predecessor to Commonwealth Shoe was the Henry and Daniels factory, itself a successor to earlier South Abington shoe companies, and the previous owner of the earliest extant shoe factory building on the present Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company site (c.1864). After Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. acquired the west side of the present Marble Street complex, it became a Whitman landmark, and the sprawling complex eventually occupied property on both the east and west sides of Marble Street.

Founded and incorporated in 1884, the Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. succeeded the Charles H. Jones Co., formed in 1882. Charles H. Jones (1855-1933) was a capitalist and philanthropist, who amassed a fortune engaging in many fields of business and industry including leather and shoe manufacturing, cattle breeding, dairy farming, and real estate development. Jones became president of the Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co., a position he held until 1930. For most of its existence, the Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company was a family enterprise, run by three generations of the Jones family — Charles H. Jones, his sons Paul Jones and Charles H. “Pete” Jones Jr., and grandsons Paul Jones Jr. and Charles Jones III.

In 1895, the local paper reported that Commonwealth shoe, among others, was expanding its factory. At this time shoes were distributed through jobbers (wholesalers) who then sold them to retailers. According to a Whitman Times article (1962) the wholesale firm of Smith and Stoughton owned retail outlets and formed a business arrangement buying and distributing Commonwealth’s shoes. According to the 1965 Whitman Historical Commission booklet, the trademark “Bostonian Shoe’ was acquired at this time (about 1896), after Commonwealth Shoe bought out Smith and Stoughton.

Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company’s branches extended to Maine. In 1897, at the behest of the Gardiner (ME) Board of Trade, Commonwealth Shoe, under Charles H. Jones Sr., opened Gardiner’s first shoe factory on Maine Avenue. The four-story, wood-frame Gardiner factory featured a prominent Gothic Revival-style stair tower reminiscent of Building 1 in Whitman.

At the start of 1906, sales through the Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company office located at 72 Lincoln Street were international in scope, and the company was operating steam-powered factories in the three New England cities of Whitman, Massachusetts (the largest and original site), Gardiner, Maine, and Skowhegan, Maine, with a combined employment of 3,000 workers, and an output of 7,000 pairs of shoes per day.

The Gardiner branch, which produced the Bostonian shoe, prospered, leading to factory expansions in 1906, 1913, and 1934. By the 1930s, the plant’s 350 employees were manufacturing 1,800 pairs of shoes daily. In 1951, the Gardiner Board of Trade built a new facility for Commonwealth Shoe off Brunswick Avenue, and they transferred their operation to what was reputedly one of the “largest, most modem shoe factories in the country.” The new factory also featured a Gothic-style stair tower. The original factory on Maine Avenue was demolished in 1970. Moccasins and other casual shoes were made in their factory in Monmouth, Maine, which opened in 1949 and was moved to Freeport in 1954.

The Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company became a dominant industry in Whitman, manufacturing fine shoes and boots that were sold across the country. Commonwealth’s success was largely based on a popular shoe named the “Bostonian Shoe.” Still manufactured today, the Bostonian Shoe became nationally renowned. In 1906, Commonwealth Shoe had decided to distribute directly to retailers. The widespread positive response to the Bostonian brand meant that sales quadrupled between 1909 and 1917. Charles H. Jones Sr. and his son, Paul Jones Sr., were convinced that advertising in dealer displays and newspapers would fuel sales, and in 1923 Commonwealth also began a program of national advertising. This is reflected in the west wing addition (1923) to the north end of Building I, which allotted space on the fourth floor for the Advertising Dept. Under Jones’ management, Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. ranked as one of the most consistent national advertisers in the footwear business. Stone also noted that Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. had expanded into a $2,500,000 corporation that employed 1,200 workers.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Commonwealth bought retail stores and outlets across the country. Commonwealth’s Bostonian shoes became world famous from its much expanded operation at the old Henry and Daniels site on Marble Street. Through government contracts they supplied shoes to the U.S. Navy during World War II. During c.1930, the Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Company’s “Commonwealth Juniors Shoes for Boys” product line became the official shoes for the Boy Scouts of America. Commonwealth’ “Official Boy Scouts of America” shoes were advertised to be made of solid genuine calf skins, and were made to fit the theme of active employees, voice to go places, and they wear like iron.”

In 1930, when Charles H. Jones stepped down as president, his son Paul Jones took over; but Charles Sr. continued as chairman until his death in 1933. In 1949, Charles H. Jones Jr. succeeded as president. In addition Charles Jones III, a third generation member of the Jones family, held executive positions in the company. In 1959, the family transferred ownership and operation to the management and certain employees of Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. Inc. Jones is reported to have coined the slogan identifying Whitman as ‘SHOE TOWN USA’.

In addition to supplying shoes to the U.S. Navy in WWII, Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. took great pride in the entire company’s contribution to the war effort. In 1944, against the Backdrop of war, Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. published “Commonwealth in Battle Dress,” a patriotic booklet of photographs and text. The book paid tribute to the achievements of the “Commonwealth family since Pearl Harbor, on both the military front and the production line at home.” In 1944, more than 120 employees were on leave to serve in the armed forces.

Card Set Overview

During 1930, the Commonwealth Shoe and Leather Company issued a 12-card set of “Makes of Planes.rdquo; The cards were issued by Commonwealth Juniors Shoes for Boysand merchandised via retail and mail order sale. The cards measure 48.1 × 74.3 mm, and are assigned the American Cards Catalog reference number H323.

The fronts of the 1930 “Makes of Planes” cards feature landscape color paintings with the Commonwealth logo superimposed on the upper left hand corner of the image area. A credit line for the image is located in the lower left-hand corner of the border surround.

The backs of the cards are presented in a &portrait format with a vertical stack of text data. The vertical text stack starts off at the top with:

1. The Commonwealth Juniorsthe blues went through you logo, accompanied by the card number.
2. An offer on how to obtain the 12 cards in the set.
3. The card title.
4. Descriptive text about the features of the subject aircraft.
5. Advertising text about the Commonwealth Juniors shoes and their association with the Boy Scouts.
6. The Commonwealth logo.

The following reference card shows the fronts and backs of a typical 1930 “Makes of Planes” (H323) card. Click on the card images to reveal full-size computer enhanced 600-dpi images of the individual cards.

It should be noted that the 1930 “Makes a Planes” (H323) set of 12 airplane cards is a direct spinoff of the 1929 “Real Airplane Pictures” (E195) issued by the New England Confectionery Company (a.k.a. NECCO). Both the E195 and the H323 sets used the same 12 card images. However, that’s the only thing that the two sets had in common. The major difference between the two card sets is that the “Real Airplane Pictures” (E195) cards are sequentially numbered from 1 to 12. On the other hand, the “Makes of Airplanes” (H323) set cards are “Skip Numbered” 4 to 47! This was a SCAM technique used by some companies to try to increase sales. Basically in this case, the card collector was hunting for 35+ cards that were never issued!

Image-Guide

Checklist

References

1. John A. Shupek: Card images via the Skytamer Archive Digital Image Database.

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