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.
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