Roadside Oddity - The Haines Shoe House

 Last week, I shared a post on Facebook that announced the unveiling of the PA historical marker for the Haines Shoe House located along Rt 30 Lincoln Highway in York county.  The Lincoln Highway has lots of interesting places like the shoe house located along it's route.  I had heard of this one before but never visited it.  At least that I know of, I may have driven by it as a child but just don't remember it.  But it looks like a pretty neat  destination.  I imagine that a few of my eastern PA family and friends may have made the trip there.  Hands up if you have!  

Wikipedia photo

As I read a bit about the house and it's builder, the name Haines Shoe Store seemed vaguely familiar.  Maybe there was one in a town I've been to?  Well, it turns out that that may be it.  There were 50 of them spread over PA and Maryland becoming the largest shoe store chain in the country.  Two towns in a list of stores on the 1920 advertising fan below were likely candidates, Lock Haven and Pottsville.  My mom grew up in Lock Haven and we visited there frequently. Pottsville is the town where both my husband & I grew up.  Now I wonder if  those stores were still open 30 years later and if we ever had a pair of Haines shoes?  I'll likely never have an answer to that question, but I did become curious about the Haines Shoes founder and builder of the house.  

https://www.facebook.com/HainesShoeHouse/

The man behind the house was Mahlon Nathaniel Haines who was born Mar 5, 1875 in Old Washington, Ohio.  Interestingly, his birth name was John Morrison Haines, but his mother renamed him for his father a few months after his birth because his father had died two months after Mahlon was born.  Mahlon's widowed mother, Elizabeth Morrison Haines, moved the family to Washington DC in 1882 where she opened a successful department store in which Mahlon worked until 1892.  At that time, he enrolled in what is now the University of Maryland and his mother built a larger store which became the largest department store in the world built, owned and run by a woman at that time.  

Mahlon struck out on his own and went to California and then back to Ohio to marry in 1905, but the engagement was called off and Mahlon found himself bicycling back to Washington DC, in his words "single, penniless and alone".  Along the way his bicycle broke down in.... York, PA.  

He became successful in the shoe business slowly, at first. He sold shoes at a farmers market, tried a business which failed and was known to have customized a Ford to create a mobile shoe store. Through hard work and gimmickry, Mahlon owned 30 stores by 1922.  He built multi story buildings in York and bought farmland in the area.  He built a house for himself on one farm and lived there till 1952 where he raised 3 children with his first wife who died suddenly in 1951. 

Mahlon had many interests. He ran for the US House of Representatives but lost, he built a facility for horse racing and horse shows, participated in developing neighborhoods and was a philanthropist, particularly to the Boy Scouts.  

In 1948, he began building the Shoe House as an advertising gimmick.  It's said that he took one of his work boots to an architect and said build me a house like this.  Mahlon did live in the house briefly and then it was offered to employees as a honeymoon destination.  Later it was offered for rent to the general public.  Through several owners, the shoe house has been a rental, a home, a museum and an ice cream shop.  Just recently, it became an Airbnb.  

In 1957, Mahlon married his 2nd wife and they built a home across the road from the shoe house.  

When Mahlon died in 1962, the shoe house was given to his employees who held it for two years before selling it.   As many older structures, the shoe house began to deteriorate and his granddaughter stepped in to buy it in 1987.  She renovated it and kept it until she could no longer manage taking care of it, sometime in the mid 1990's.  The house is now under the care of it's 8th owner. 

So if you are looking for a unique experience, the Mahlon Haines' Shoe House might be for you.  

And, yes, I did find out the Mahlon is related to me, my 6th cousin 3 times removed thru our Austin, Woolman and Borton family lines.  

Here are some good places to read more about the House and Mahlon. 

https://www.hainesshoehouse.com/history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahlon_Haines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haines_Shoe_House

  Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2023. All rights reserved. 

Why not Wiley!

Thursday, an article about Wiley Post came up in front of me.  Today, July 22, is the 90th anniversary of Wiley's becoming the first pilot to go around the world solo.  He also set a speed record on the trip.  

Wiley Post

Wiley Post was born Nov 22, 1898 on a cotton farm near Grand Saline, Texas.  His mother was said to be of mixed Cherokee heritage.  Wiley finished 6th grade and he and his family moved to Oklahoma.  This is where Wiley saw his first airplane in 1913.  He enrolled in an aviation school in Kansas City for 7 months.  He wanted to become a pilot for WW1 but the war ended before his training was over.  Bad luck followed Wiley with jobs and he ended up in a reformatory for a year after he resorted to armed robbery.  By 1926, he was a parachutist on a barnstorming circuit.  He worked for awhile on an oil rig but was blinded in one eye after a piece of metal pierced it.  He used the settlement money he received to buy his first airplane. It was also about this time that he met and became good friends with Will Rogers, a well known entertainer, humorist and newspaper columnist.  

Will Rogers

Wiley became the personal pilot for a few wealthy oilmen which allowed him to have access to some of the faster aircraft of the time.  This was also a time when many aviation records were being set.  Wiley set several. His first one was a speed record, NY to LA in 9 hours, 8 minutes, 2 seconds on Aug 27, 1930. On June 23, 1931, Wiley and a navigator set the record for an around the world trip in a fixed wing aircraft. 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes.  15,474 miles.  His next record was another around the world trip but this time solo in 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes on July 22, 1933. 

Jul 22, 1933 record

But Wiley wasn't finished yet, In 1934, his attentions turned to high altitude flying and helped develop the first viable pressure suit. His first flight in the suit enabled him to reach 40,000 ft.  and later 50,000 ft.  This suit is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Apparently, the jetstream was discovered during his high altitude flights as well.  In 1935, Wiley attempted 4 high altitude non stop flights from LA to NY but all failed due to mechanical difficulties.  

Wiley in his pressure suit

Pressure suit at the National Air and Space Museum

Wiley Post and Will Rogers in Aug 1935

Wiley's final flight came on Aug 15, 1935, when he took his friend Will Rogers on a trip from Seattle to Alaska.  They came upon some bad weather and landed in a lagoon near Point Barrow, Alaska to fix their location and get directions.  ""On takeoff, the engine failed at low altitude, and the aircraft, uncontrollably nose-heavy at low speed, plunged into the lagoon, shearing off the right wing, and ended up inverted in the shallow part. Both men died instantly.""  Wiley was 36 years old.  And he accomplished all of this as a one eyed pilot. 

Aug 1935

I thought "I think I have some Posts in my family tree, let's check Wiley's family out".  So I did and did not find him related to any of the Posts that I had, BUT he did end up being related to me.  This frequently happens when I look into some of the interesting people that I read about.  This time we go all the way back to the year 1474 to find the common ancestor!  I know that is stretching the envelope a bit for a connection, but the search is fascinating.  We can track our connection thru Great Grandad Ralph Arnold to his mother Elnorah Amos, then to Sarah Mower (wife of our only Civil War ancestor), and back 13 more generations to a couple named Sir Thomas Sayre born in 1474 in Podington, Bedford, England and his wife Margaret Fairfax born in 1476 in Yorkshire, England.  All this making Wiley a 12th cousin 5 times removed to us.  

Images found at Wikipedia.

 Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2023. All rights reserved.