Dacks and other Canadian shoe brands

Hartt PTBs in water bison.

@VintageZealot was kind enough to ship me the Vintage "Belmont" Oxfords that he thrifted several weeks ago in British Columbia. Initially I presumed they had been manufactured by the Belmont Boot & Shoe Co. of Victoria, however subsequent research in the Newspaper Archives as well as Canadian Gov. Archives indicates that as of the 1920's they were no longer in business. These shoes were clearly made later than the 1920's, therefore the Belmont Boot & Shoe Co could not have been their maker.

A little more forensic work resulted in the realization that the shoes were in fact manufactured by our old friends Scott & McHale, of London. Ontario. The Belmont shoe line actually predates the ownership of the firm by Francis Scott and John McHale (1922-1959) or even the short lived partnership of Scott and Chamberlain (1916-1922). The Belmont line was introduced by the original founders of the firm, Joseph Cook and C.J. Fitzgerald (1904-1916). For more information on Cook-Fitzgerald you can refer to my post on page 147 of this thread. Joseph Cook came from a long line of local shoemakers and retailers, while C. J. Fitzgerald was a famed sportswriter and horse man from New York city, who was married to Cook's sister.

In 1911, only seven years after founding the firm, Joseph Cook passed away at the age of 49, leaving the sportswriter and noted horseman, C.J. Fitzgerald to manage the firm. Fitzgerald relocated to London, supervising the firm through to 1916, when it was sold to Francis Scott and W.M. Chamberlain, two prominent shoe men from Cambridge.

The two primary shoe lines of Cook-Fitzgerald were the Liberty and the Astoria, both names being evocative of prominent New York city landmarks. The "Belmont Shoe", which shows up in advertising post 1910, continues this trend, and was quite likely named after the Belmont Raceway, where C.J. Fitzgerald was President of the Jockey Club. Both the Liberty and Astoria lines were very high quality and sold across the country, with retailers apparently carrying either one or the other line, but not both. The Belmont Shoe was associated with the Astoria Line, and may have been a second quality level, much the same as the relationship between the Florsheim Imperial and the Blue Label, or the John McHale Custom Shoe and the "McHale Shoe" post 1959.

The Belmont shoe was heavily advertised thru the 1920's, with the last instance that I can find coming in 1933 in the Vancouver Sun. Belmont shoes were almost certainly made past this date, as shoe advertising was drastically curtailed during the depression and the war years, and the absence of adverts cant be taken as indicating the termination of production. By the time advertising picks up post war, the Liberty Shoe had disappeared entirely and the John McHale Custom shoe, introduced as early as 1939, had supplanted the Astoria as the top quality Scott-McHale line. Throughout the 1950's references to the Astoria Line quickly fade, while the second quality line was most often referred to as the "Scott-McHale Shoe", morphing to the "McHale Shoe" post-1959 and the sale of the firm to Interco (through Savage Shoes of Cambridge).

I believe the pair of shoes found by @VintageZealot were manufactured in the very late 30's or 1940's. The style of Goodyear heel used on the shoes was definitely in use by the 1940's, and continued to be used by firms such as Dacks right up to the mid 1960's. I do not know how early the heels were introduced, and while the late 1930's is a possibility, it does seem a bit early to me. The shoes were very well made, but are a step below the quality found on the 1940's shoes that McHale manufactured for Saks Fifth Ave. Those shoes had a welt stich per inch (SPI) of ten, while the Belmont shoes have a SPI of eight (see page 188 of this thread). I suspect that the Belmont Shoe continued to be produced in low numbers for some "traditional" retailers through to the war years, and that this pair likely dates to the 40's. I am also reasonably certain that the "Belmont Shoe" was a second quality production associated with the Astoria line. Hopefully more pre-1950 shoes will show up to help us sort out some of these questions. Pre-1950 shoe survivals in Canada are extraordinarily rare and I have yet to see an actual Astoria or Liberty labelled shoe in either hand or photo.




March 15th 1929



September 15, 1927




Sept 12, 1919







Nov 15, 1929



October 7, 1920



March 3, 1933 (last Advertisement, Vancouver Sun)

its absolutely dedicated and totally obscure bits of history like this that make this thread so much fun to follow. Thanks for the information Jiqea, it was a nice read on my coffee break. And gorgeous photos too.

These are a Canadian brand called "The Ritchie shoe." The high school I'm coaching for mock trials is in the final round today.

Orange theme to rally the team. Wishing you all a pleasant Friday ahead.

Been a while since I posted anything
Anybody a 13 D?

Florsheim and Alan McAfee's (these are Made in England)

There's also Dacks Camel but they need to be resoled