Andrews’ latest book takes look inside Hannibal’s shoe factories

Gregg Andrews proudly holds a copy of his latest book, “Shoe Workers in Hannibal, Missouri.” Published by Louisiana State University Press, the book is to be released for sale this week. Contributed photo.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

For 60-plus years, Hannibal was a shoe manufacturing town.

Gregg Andrews, who grew up in the small Ilasco-area burb known as Monkey Run, just south of Hannibal, drew this conclusion after conducting an in-depth study of Hannibal and its politics, the shoe factories that did business here, and the people who worked at those plants.

“Like cement made Ilasco, shoe manufacturing made Hannibal,” Andrews said in a phone interview from his home in Seguin, Texas.

His research provides the core for his latest book on the Hannibal region: “Shoe Workers in Hannibal, Missouri,” published by Louisiana State University Press.

“I’ve had great experiences with LSU. I see the shoe workers book as a third in a trilogy; the cultural history of poor and working class people in Mississippi River valley. It is a project that is dear to my heart because it is set in Hannibal.”

This book has been more than a quarter of a century in the making.

Andrews first started studying Hannibal’s shoe factories, the employees and associated labor issues, around the year 2000. “That’s when I started toying with idea of writing a book about shoe workers,” he said. 

A retired professor of history and labor historian at Texas State University, Andrews was naturally drawn to the topic of the shoe factories. His mother, Virginia Sanders Andrews Sudholt (1928-2008), who finished raising her children as a single mother following the death of her husband, Maurice E. Andrews, in 1965, was herself a shoe factory worker.

In 2000, he was able to gain her perspective via long conversations.

“My mom came from the production line,” he said. “Mom went to work there during the war, as a 15-year-old girl from Ilasco. The Bluff City plant was doing Army reconstruction work during the war.

“She worked for Bluff City in the summer time while a student at Marble Creek School, and again after graduating 8th grade. She did not like the Bluff. Then an opening came up at the rubber plant, where she trimmed heels.

“That is why I was always interested in the project,” Andrews said.

But after collecting the initial information, he got distracted with other research and/or music projects, he said.

But finally, the time was right, after bypass surgery in 2018.

“I started diving back into research again. It has brought me back home full circle.

“It lit a creative fire under me. After I retired I was mainly interested in doing music; when this hit, I thought I need to get back into scholarship. I’ve put out three books in four years; I wasn’t finished yet.”

His biggest regret regarding the shoe factory project: “I wish I had started this project 25 years ago,” while the former shoe factory employees were still alive, “to get their perspective.”

“I learned a lot from this book; the 1930s material really got my attention; violence against the union organizers and the role of public officials in Hannibal.”

South side

“I lived in Monkey Run. I spent a lot of time on the South Side, where I had cousins, and I played for Stowell playground summer sports. Most of my friends were from the South Side. So many of those families were shoe workers.

“When the shoe factories pulled out, the South Side never recovered. There is a lot of blight there today; that is a direct result of the pull out of International Shoe Company.” The neighborhood was “never able to adapt; businesses are gone, and suddenly with other changes going on in the city, people abandoned it.  I think that the effects of the pull out of the shoe company are still going on today.”

The plant closings started with the Seventh street plant, Andrews said. “They closed it first in 1962; in 1964 they closed the Bluff City; and in 1966 they closed the rubber plant.”

Tourism ties

One question that has long been on Andrews’ mind, is why, traditionally, the working people of Hannibal have a very low regard for Mark Twain. “That’s always troubled me. I’ve never understood why that is so.”

Following his research, he was able to form a conclusion:

“Looking at the 1930s chapter,” of his book, he said, at that time, the “Labor movement held Mark Twain in high regard.

But, “In that centennial celebration in 1935, they used non union labor,” which offended the union organizers in the shoe industry. “That might have been the beginning,” he said, “a cynical dismissal of Mark Twain.”

Also, “Mark Twain tourism was developing at the same time the shoe companies were pulling out,” Andrews said. 

Social media

Social media played a significant role in Andrews’ research, allowing him access to people with memories of their family connections to the shoe factories. Linda Ham Thompson shared her uncle’s memories, and “John Muehring, he could describe in detail what his job was.

“And baby boomers remember when their parents worked there. I got good descriptions from memories of parents in the shoe factories.

“I’m very proud of this book,” Andrews said. “To be truthful, I did this for the people of Hannibal. I love the process, I always have, (my wife) Vikki and I drove to Columbia Mo., just to look at sources, mainly union records in Columbia. I have lived this book for the last two years, every day.

“I hope the people of Hannibal and especially the working people of Hannibal will appreciate it. I hope they look at the index and see if their family is in there. Experiences of parents and grandparents; many family combinations, mother-daughter, father-daughter, husband-wife, many marriages were made there outside of the shoe factory and on the floor; their whole life was tied up in the shoe factory.

“I hope the book will help revive interest in the town, and the town’s history,” he said.

Books by Gregg Andrews include:

“Shoe Workers of Hannibal, Missouri” 2026

“Shantyboats and Roustabouts”

“Thyra J. Edwards”

“City of Dust”

“Hard Times in an American Workhouse”

“My Daddy’s Blues”

“Shoulder to Shoulder?: The American Federation of Labor, the United States, and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1924”

“Shoe Workers in Hannibal, Missouri,” will be available for sale at the Mark Twain Book and Gift Shop, 312 N. Main. Check with Michelle Huseman for availability at 573 221 2140.