Title: LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. Records
Date: 1897-1997

Creator:

• LaCrosse (Firm).

Unique Identifier: MSS 078

Quantity: 27.3 cubic feet

Physical Description: 26 archives boxes, 1 large flat box, 65 volumes

Repository:

La Crosse Public Library
Contact Information

Archival Location:

La Crosse Public Library (Map)

Abstract:

Originating in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as the La Crosse Rubber Mills Company, Inc., the enterprise began in 1897 manufacturing rubber horseshoes and then rubber-coated fabrics and raincoats until 1906 when the switch to rubber footwear was made.

Renamed LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. in 1986, the company designs, manufactures, and markets premium quality rubber, leather and vinyl footwear for sporting, recreational and occupational markets. Operations were consolidated and manufacturing was relocated from La Crosse, Wis., to Portland, Oregon, in 2001.

Records include newspaper articles, catalogs (1909-1996) of shoes and boots produced by the company, financial records (1897-1956), patents and trademarks, photographic images and shoe samples.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.lcpl-mss078

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LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. has been providing performance footwear and apparel to keep people warm, dry, and comfortable since 1897.

Originally called the La Crosse Rubber Mills, the first product manufactured was rubber horseshoes. Led by La Crosse entrepreneurs Albert Hirshheimer, Michael Funk, George Zeisler and other citizens, they began manufacturing rubber horseshoes and rainwear on the first day of operation. Twenty-five employees worked on 160 sewing machines operated by steam and running at a daily rate of up to 3500 stitches.

The horseshoes soon gave way to rubber-coated fabrics and raincoats, which the company manufactured until 1906, when it switched to rubber footwear. In 1908, the Rubber Mills made the first buckle overshoe, and by 1912, 1200 pairs of rubber footwear were manufactured daily.

In 1916, the company had one of the largest work forces in the city, but inadequate public transportation and roads made it difficult for employees to come to the plant. Their solution was to start its own bus line and transport the workers themselves.

In the 1940s some of the world's most modern equipment, including the famed conveyor system was installed in the factory. In 1963, Ankle-Fit boots were created, an innovative, ankle-gripping design that keeps the tall, heavy-duty, rubber boot from pulling loose in mud and prevents rubbing and chafing.

Another innovation occurred in 1981 when the La Crosse Rubber Mills introduced double insulation in the Iceman ™ pac boot. This innovation in cold weather footwear allowed the company to offer pac boots with superior warmth. Double insulation included a removable felt liner and insulation in the rubber shell consisting of foam and a wool-felt midsole. By the end of the decade, the first interchangeable liner "system" approach to insulation, allowing customers to customize or replace their boot insulation as conditions changed, was introduced.

The following year, shareholders agreed to sell the company to Frank J. Uhler Jr. and George W. Schneider. Schneider was married to Virginia Funk, granddaughter of founder Michael Funk. The purchase was made after it appeared that a New York shoe company planned to purchase the business and move operations elsewhere. As a result, the new owners and the United Rubber Workers Local 14 agreed to a profit-sharing program that was credited with helping the company survive foreign competition.

In order to aid marketing efforts, in 1986 the name of the company was changed to LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. At that time, the company manufactured rubber and vinyl protective footwear for dress, industrial and sporting use. Employment in La Crosse totaled 609, with another 90 employed in New Hampshire at its Claremont plant. Annual sales totaled about $35 million and it was the third-largest manufacturing employer in the city, trailing only Trane Co. and G. Heileman Brewing Co.

That same year, LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. received the Industry-Labor Appreciation Award sponsored by local labor unions, the Great La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce and the city of La Crosse. But labor problems were apparent in the 1990s.

By 1989, the company also operated plants not only in La Crosse and Claremont, New Hampshire, but Hillsboro and Clintonville, Wis. Military contracts were important to the success of the operation in 1988-1990.

In 1994, LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. acquired the Danner Shoe Manufacturing Co., founded in 1932 and a leader in high quality leather boots, to form a major force in the footwear industry. Patrick Gantert became president and CEO of the company. Footwear went public with a $17.6 million stock offering. LaCrosse introduced triple insulation with the Ice King ™. Triple insulation took the technology from double insulation and added Thinsulate ™ to the boot shell. The Ice King ™ provided superior warmth not available before.

Red Ball, Inc., a competing company, was purchased by LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. in 1996 for $5 million. Later that year, a Footwear purchased Rainfair, an outerwear manufacturer, for $10.5 million to complement the footwear products. The following year LaCrosse Footwear, Inc., acquired Lake of the Woods brand.

Precision Fit Technology ™ was introduced and patented in 2000. PFT ™ boots combined the warmth of a pac boot with the precise fit of a leather lace up. In April 2000, Footwear closed its Clintonville plant and shifted production to La Crosse and Mexico. In 1999, the company reported a loss of $2.64 million after three consecutive mild winters erode sales. By the end of 2000, Gantert resigned as CEO and the company posted a $461,000 second-quarter loss. Operations ceased at the La Crosse plant in March 2001 and about 139 jobs were eliminated with the shutdown.

In 2001, LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. moved its headquarters from La Crosse to Portland, Oregon, to join forces with its sister company Danner, Inc. Fewer than 10 jobs actually shifted to Portland which included sales, marketing and product development functions.

The following year, the company was recognized by Sporting Goods Business magazine as one of the top 50 most valuable and well known brands in the United States.

Introduced in 2003 was the innovative Alpha product line of rubber-clad neoprene rubber boots, the fit and performance of which re-defined rubber hunting boots.

Today, LaCrosse Footwear, Inc., based in Portland, Oregon, designs, manufactures, and markets premium quality rubber, leather and vinyl footwear for sporting, recreational and occupational markets.

This collection was categorized into eight series: history (n.d.-1995), catalogs (1909-1996), financial materials (1897-1956), subsidiary financial materials (1919-1924), patents/trademarks (1856-1976), personnel & property (n.d., 1922-1995), photographic images (n.d.-1997), shoe samples (n.d.).

The history series includes some annual reports, an historical booklet about the manufacture of rubber footwear (1925), newspaper clippings (1910-1997), and some memorabilia, including a reproduction of the 1922 Winter Carnival patch.

Catalogs are La Crosse Rubber Mills/LaCrosse Footwear product catalogs from 1909-1996 and show different styles and colors over time. A few sales brochures are also included here (1945, 1993).

Financial materials are the most Volumeuminous and include general, private, and account ledgers. Journals include cash books, accounts payable, payroll, and trial balance. Some miscellaneous journals include collection register (people who owe the company money), liability insurance account and bus transportation account (both in the same bound Volumeume), and "shoe findings" which we believe was some kind of research and development log book. There are also two Volumeumes of subsidiary financial materials which are a trial balance and cash book.

Patents/trademarks are very interesting and graphical in nature. Many are patents/trademarks of the La Crosse Rubber Mills, but some are patent copies from shoe related parts (e.g. rubber soles) and the like. These range in date from 1856-1976.

Personnel & property includes some general files dealing with personnel issues (i.e. memos about changes in worker assignments), a production log (1928) that seems to be organized by worker, and a retiree list (1995). Property materials include building specifications (1927), history, and insurance appraisals.

The photographic images include oversize ads/artwork of the plant buildings, a building layout (circa 1920s?), a newspaper from 1928 and reproduction historical photographs on form core (for display). Three large color building drawings were too large to house with the collection and were separated out into the oversize picture file. These can be found under the heading Industries-La Crosse Rubber Mills/LaCrosse Footwear.

There is a collection of glass plate negatives (undated) which include the building and shoe products. The other photographs include undated, but historical images categorized by ads/artwork (drawings), aerial views, busses, buildings, personnel and production. In the "other" category are three machine sewn photo albums in canvas depicting production of the rubber footwear.

Some other formats include VHS tape and audio tape coverage of the centennial celebration, 1995-1997, and some commercial video 1960, 1995-1996.

Lastly, shoe samples that were saved include mainly women's overshoes and one pair of men's overshoes. These are not dated but the rubber is becoming brittle.

(Accession no. 2002.006) Donated by LaCrosse Footwear via Lorrayne French, March 2002.

Processed by Anita Taylor Doering, 2004, with help from Margaret Donndelinger, 2006.

(Annual reports)

Private industry--LaCrosse Footwear

(Clipping file)

La Crosse--Industries--LaCrosse Footwear

(Ephemera file)

LaCrosse--Industries--LaCrosse Footwear

(Picture file)

La Crosse--Industries--La Crosse Rubber Mills/LaCrosse Footwear

(338.76 W556 1945)

What's Behind this Trademark? La Crosse Rubber Mills Company

(678.2 M319)

The Manufacture of Rubber Footwear: An Illustrated Story of Rubber from its Growth to the Finished Product

Materials in this collection are available for patron use.

[Identification of item], LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. Records, MSS 078, La Crosse Public Library Archives, La Crosse, WI

Arranged in eight series:

Series 1: History

Series 2: Catalogs

Series 3: Financial Materials

Series 4: Subsidiary Financial Materials

Series 5: Patents and Trademarks

Series 6: Personnel and Property

Series 7: Photographs

Series 8: Shoe Samples

• La Crosse Rubber Mills Company, Inc..
• LaCrosse (Firm).
• Business enterprises--Wisconsin--La Crosse
• Business records--Wisconsin--La Crosse
• Footwear--Design and construction--Wisconsin--La Crosse
• Manufacturing processes--Rubber footwear--Wisconsin--La Crosse

(Series 1)	Series: History
Box 1   Folder 1	Annual reports, 1994-1995
Box 1   Folder 2	Booklet "Manufacture of Rubber Footwear", 1925
Box 1   Folder 3	Newspaper clippings, 1910-1997
	Memorabilia
Box 1   Folder 4	Catalogs for manufacturing machines, 1937
Box 1   Folder 5	Plaques
Box 1   Folder 6	Poem "It's Ninety Years Ago" by Loretta Seekamp, 1987
Box 1   Folder 7	Reproductions of Winter Carnival patch
Box 1   Folder 8	Miscellaneous
(Series 2)	Series: Catalogs	⇧
Box 2	, 1909-1952
Box 3	, 1953-1980
Box 4   Folder 1-14	, 1982-1996
Box 4   Folder 15	Danner, 1994-1996
Box 4   Folder 16	Red Ball, 1995-1996
Box 5   Folder 1	Sales brochures, 1945, 1993
(Series 3)	Series: Financial Materials, 1897-1956	⇧
(Subseries 3.1)	Subseries: Ledgers
	General ledgers
Volume 1	, 1897-1889 Scope and Contents Includes capital, profit & loss, cash, real estate, expenses, fixtures, rubber and accounts (corporate & individual)
Box 25	Transfer ledger (loose bundle), 1940-1942 Scope and Contents Includes categories such as machinery depreciation (no accounts)
Volume 3	Transfer ledger no.2, 1945-1956
	Private ledgers
Volume 4	"A" (spine mislabeled), 1903-1908
Volume 5	"B", 1908-1911
Volume 6	"C", 1912-1917
Volume 7	"C", 1918-1923
Volume 8	"D", 1926-1935
Volume 9	"E", 1935-1940
Volume 10	"F", 1941-1945
	Account ledgers
Volume 11	"Current ledger no. 3", A-G, 1900-1914
Volume 12	"Current ledger", H-N, 1900-1914
Volume 13	"Current ledger no. 2", O-Z, 1900-1914
Volume 14	"Current ledger no. 1", A-G, 1909-1913
Volume 15	"Current ledger no. 2", H-N, 1909-1913
Volume 16	"Current ledger no. 3", O-Z, 1909-1913
(Subseries 3.2)	Subseries: Journals	⇧
	Cash books
Volume 17	"Journal B", 1899-1910
Volume 18	"D", 1906-1908
Volume 19	"E", 1909-1910
Volume 20	"F", 1910-1912
Volume 21	"G", 1912-1913
Volume 22	"H", 1913-1914
Volume 23	"No. 1", A-K, 1914-1916
Volume 24	"No. 2", L-Z, 1914-1916
Volume 25	"No. 2", A-K, 1916-1918
Volume 26	"No. 2", L-Z, 1916-1918
Volume 27	"No. 3", ledgers 3-4-5-7, 1918-1920
Volume 28	"No. 4", ledgers 1-2-6, 1918-1920
Volume 29	"No. 4", ledgers 1-2-3, 1920-1922
Volume 30	"No. 5", ledgers 4-5-8-7, 1920-1922
Volume 31	"No. 6", ledgers 1-2-3-4-5-6-8-7, 1922-1924
Volume 32	"No. 7", 1922-1924
Volume 33	"No. 8", ledgers 1-2-3-4-5-6-8-7, 1924-1926
Volume 34	"No. 9", ledger 9, 1924-1926
Volume 35	"No. 10", ledgers 1-2-3-4-5-8-7, 1926-1928
Volume 36	"No. 11", ledger 9, 1926-1928
Volume 37	Ledgers 1-2-3-4-5-8-7, 1928-1929
Volume 38	Ledger 9, 1928-1929
Volume 39	"No. 13", ledgers 1-7, 1929-1931
Volume 40	"No. 14", ledgers 10-11, 1929-1932
Volume 41	"No. 15", 1931-1933
Volume 42	"No. 16", ledgers 10-11, 1932-1934
Volume 43	"No. 17", ledgers 1-2-3-4-5-6-8-9-7
Volume 44	"No. 18", ledgers 1-9
Volume 45	"No. 18", ledgers 10-11
Volume 46	"No. 19", ledgers 1-9
Volume 47	"No. 19", ledgers 10-11
	Accounts payable
Box 26	, 1907-1909
Box 26	, 1912-1918
Box 26	"No. 1", 1918-1922
Box 27	"No. 2", 1922-1926
Box 27	"No. 3", 1926-1929
	Payroll
Volume 54	"3" "Sales book", 1914
Volume 55	, 1940
Volume 56	, 1941
Volume 57	, 1940-1943
Volume 58	"Sales record", 1941
	Trial balance
Volume 59	, 1898-1916
Volume 60	, 1917-1940
Volume 61	Collection register, 1903-1908
Volume 62	Liability insurance account/bus transportation account, 1919-1940
Volume 63	Shoe findings "1", 1909-1914
(Series 4)	Series: Subsidiary Financail Materials	⇧
Volume 64	Trial balance, 1919-1924
Volume 65	Cash book, 1919-1921
(Series 5)	Series: Patents and Trademarks	⇧
Box 5   Folder 2-20	, 1856-1929
Box 6	, 1930-1948
Box 7	, 1948-1953
Box 8	, 1954-1976
(Series 6)	Series: Personnel and Property	⇧
Box 9   Folder 1	General, 1966-1995
Box 9   Folder 2	Production log, 1928
Box 9   Folder 3	Retiree list, 1995
Box 9   Folder 4	Property Documents
Box 9   Folder 5	History
Box 9   Folder 6	Insurance appraisals
(Series 7)	Series: Photographic Images	⇧
Oversize 10	Reproduction historical photos mounted on foam core; oversize artwork and ads, building layout
	Glass plate negatives
Box 11	Building
Box 12	Products
	Photographs
	Ads/Artwork
Box 13   Folder 1	Buildings
Box 13   Folder 2	Production
Box 13   Folder 3-4	Products
Box 13   Folder 5	Other
Box 13   Folder 6	Aerial views
Box 13   Folder 7	Busses
	Buildings
Box 14   Folder 1	Exterior Related Materials See also oversize picture file: Industries-La Crosse Rubber Mills
Box 14   Folder 2	Interior
Box 14   Folder 3	Silo for raw rubber
	Personnel
Box 14   Folder 4-5	, undated
Box 14   Folder 6	, circa 1940-1949
Box 14   Folder 7	, circa 1980-1989
Box 15   Folder 1	Board of Directors
	Centennial events
Box 15   Folder 2	, Jan. 23, 1997
Box 15   Folder 3	, June 13, 1997
Box 15   Folder 4	Picnic, June 14, 1997
Box 15   Folder 5	Other
	Sales Banquets
Box 15   Folder 6-8	, 1979-1981
Box 15   Folder 9-10	, 1983-1984
Box 15   Folder 11-14	, 1987-1990
Box 15   Folder 15	, 1996
Box 15   Folder 16-18	, circa 1980-1995
Box 15   Folder 19	Production
Box 16   Folder 1-4	Products
Box 17   Folder 1-3	Other
	Videos
	Centennial celebration, 1995-1997
Box 18	News coverage Physical Description: VHS cassette; color; sound; runtime unknown
Box 18	Audio Physical Description: Audio cassette; runtime unknown
Box 19	Commercials, 1960, 1995-1996
(Series 8)	Series: Shoe Samples	⇧
	Women's (in pairs)
Box 20-21	Black Smart Avenue Blvd, sizes 5 and 7
Box 22	Black Broadway Blvd, size 6
Box 23	Silver Vogue Blvd, size 6
Box 24	Unnamed, size 8
Box 24	Men's (single overshoe): White buckle, size 8