Shoetown

Colloquialism for Johnson City, New York, birthplace of the Endicott Johnson Shoe company around the turn of the 20th century. The quintessential company town, factory workers lived in homes built and owned by the company. EJ was known for hiring immigrant workers who were proclaimed to have gotten to Ellis Island and asked "which way E-J"?

A real Shoetown boy, he lived on the corner of Endicott and Johnson Streets.

by heddy June 28, 2012