Record Group Number 48

Grower's Shoe Store

Compiled by Alan F. Rumrill

April 1986

On July 21, 1922 Harry E. and Florence H. Grower purchased the Leon C. Ellsworth, Inc. shoe store of Keene. They paid $11,500.00 for the store, $2,000.00 in cash plus a $2,500.00 note to Ellsworth.

On March 6, 1923 the Grower's opened a new shoe store at 18 Central Square in the Bank Building. During the first year the Grower's made sales totalling $11,632.41 . They paid $11,351.63 for overhead and wages and about $9,000.00 was paid for new stock. The new store was successful and the Grower's continued in business on Central Square until 1942 when they sold the store. The name was changed to the Footwear Center with Harold C. Ladam as proprietor.

This record group contains detailed records of most aspects of the business during its twenty year history. There is a daily listing of invoices from January 1923 to May 1938, a ledger dating from January 1938 to July 1942, two volumes of inventory records, and the records concerning the original note of $2,500.00 to Leon C. Ellsworth. The most complete record is a nine volume series of cash books which record a daily account of income and expenses throughout the life of the store, July 1922 through June 1944, approximately 2,300 pages.

These shoe store records are filed in three archive boxes. They were donated to the Historical Society by David R. Proper, nephew of the Grower's, during the 1970s.

Series I - CASH BOOKS

Box 2, Volumes 7-9
Vol. 7 - May 1938-March 1941
Vol. 8 - March 1941-December 1943
Vol. 9 - December 1943-June 1944

Series II - INVENTORIES & LEDGERS

Box 3, Volumes 3-6
Vol. 3-5 - Daily Invoices, 1923-1938
Vol. 6 - Accounts Ledger, 1938-1942

Series III - MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS