Main St looking up

Main St looking up

Main St looking up View of lower Main Street, the intersection of High Street (Dinsmore Shoe) and Post Office Square. 1850-1915 are the monumental dates noting the life and career of one of Belfast's leading and most progressive business houses. We refer to B. C. Dinsmore & sons, retailers and jobbers in all kinds of footwear. No other house is so well known throughout Waldo County; no other local concern has so wide acquaintance throughout the state. Established in 1850 by Bounds C. Dinsmore, who died in 1890, it was located in the lower store in the Marshall Block on Main Street. There the business was conducted after the manor of the that period when the cobbler's bench was the mainstay. Here long-legged boots in heavy calf for general use and the fine French calf for the dandies of that day were made and the foundation of the present establishment was constructed. Mr. Dinsmore was a cobbler by trade and had a practical knowledge of leather and the parts that extend into boots and shoes. He soon got a reputation for reliability and square-dealing and the business prospered. About 1880 a jobbing department was added and his son tom (whom everybody knows) fresh from college and to the manor born for the shoe business was given partnership and devoted his energies to the latter branch. Tom took to the business like a duck to water and soon had men on the road showing Dinsmore footwear. The jobbing department became of such magnitude that there were serious thoughts of dropping the retail business entirely, owing to lack of room. About this time, 1888, the Odd Fellows block was erected and learning that A. A. Howes & Co. were to move from their old place into the new block. Messrs. Dinsmore secured the building where they are now located, one of the most prominent situations for business in the city. It was about this time the youngest son, Irving T., came into the business and taking naturally to the up-to-date wants of the retail trade, has made a great success of that department, as has Tom in the jobbing line. Several times the building has been renovated to make room for increasing business and now occupies three full stories and the basement. Employed in the store besides the proprietors are two retail clerks, one man in the wholesale and a cashier. Then there are three men traveling over the greater part of the state representing the wholesale department and selling as clean and stylish a line of footwear as is sent out by any house. tom Dinsmore is considered in Boston and New York as one of the best buyers "coming to market." So, it seems a far cry from this extensive, modernly conducted business of neatly custom footwear, exhibited through plate glass fronts and electric illuminations, to the days of the cobbler's bench, tallow candles or oil lamps dimly displayed boots, shoes and rubbers in bulk - a great change from the cowhides and copper toes of this store's primitive days to its present display of cultured and modish effects. There are but few business houses that can look back on an uninterrupted business career of 64 years. Think of the great changes and wonderful events that have occurred within that space, yet steadily marching on through the evolutions of time the Dinsmore store instead of being ancient is only 64 years young and quite up-to-date. On the right is the Clothier business of Clark & Sleeper. This may be the business of George Clark: Mr. Clark, the proprietor, had been in the clothing business at this location for many years. Mr. Clark was a supplier of suits, overcoats, collars and neckwear as well as the smartest shirts, finest hosiery, small jewelry, sweaters and sports clothing, etc. Mr. Clark was a native of Belfast and had been in the trade for more than thirty years.