In 1886, the Dover Improvement Association built a four story wooden structure 150’ x 45’ at the corner of Sixth and Grove Streets (50-60 Sixth Street) for Lewis W. Nute. Nute died in 1888 and the shop was rented to the Charles H. Moulton Shoe Company. They employed 200 and stayed there until circa 1903. From 1905 to 1912, the firm of Luddy & Currier had their shoe manufacturing operation here and in 1909 they were joined by the Beckwith Box Toe Company who occupied the main section of the building. In 1913, the Farmington shoe company moved into the building on the west side of the property (the part still standing) and stayed there until World War II. Beckwith was here until the 1950s, then the Weiss-Lawrence Shoe Company was the last, closing down in 1974. After neighbors voiced concerns that the now empty factory was a fire hazard, the main portion was torn down.
1993 Heritage Walking Tour booklet