TEXT AND IMAGES BY JOHN PANGILINAN
Located halfway between Maine’s state capital of Augusta and the state’s most populous city of Portland lies Lewiston, Maine. The state’s second largest city was at the center of a shoe manufacturing boom in the early 1900s. However, through the years, as smaller businesses became acquired by larger companies and as manufacturing was taken overseas, most of these original companies dwindled out of existence. Today, only a handful of shoe manufacturers remain in Lewiston, including Quoddy and Rancourt. Through the power of the internet and direct sales to the consumer, not all is lost as a resurgence for American-made quality products has come to light and discerning customers are now able to directly purchase these goods they sought after.