[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 123 (Monday, October 4, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BELLEVILLE SHOE MANUFACTURING 
                                COMPANY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 4, 2004

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join 
me in recognizing the 100th Anniversary of the Belleville Shoe 
Manufacturing Company located in my hometown of Belleville, Illinois.
  Founded in 1904, Belleville Shoe produced their first military 
footwear for World War I in 1917 and continues providing footwear to 
each branch of our Nation's military and law enforcement personnel.
  The original group of investors for Belleville Shoe was of German 
descent: Adolph Knobeloch, H.E. Leunig, Joseph Reis, James Rentchler, 
and William Weidmann. Reis was named president, but it was Weidmann, 
the company's secretary-treasurer, who had introduced the shoe-factory 
idea. The company began operations in the former Rentchler machine 
shops at East B and Delmar streets. Born in Belleville, William 
Weidmann was one of eight children of a German immigrant couple. His 
parents arrived in the area in the second half of the nineteenth 
century. By the time he was gathering investors for the company, he and 
his wife Caroline (Leunig) had two sons, William and Walter.
  In the same year that Belleville Shoe was incorporated, Walter 
graduated from the St. Louis Manual Training School. Soon thereafter, 
he joined the company as the operational manager. Walter directed 
Belleville Shoe's operations successfully through the Great Depression, 
World War II, and into the 1950s. Through the 1960s, 1970s, and into 
the mid-1980s, Walter's son, Homer Weidmann led the company. Today, 
William Weidmann's great-grandson, Eric R. Weidmann, is the president.
  In its beginnings, the Belleville Shoe Company produced everyday 
footwear for men and boys. During World War I, the company produced its 
first line of combat boots for the military. With the end of World War 
I, the factory again started producing more than 25 styles of shoes. 
During this time, the company became the first in the Belleville area 
to offer worker incentives and daily attendance was rewarded with 
profit bonus and a life insurance policy.
  By the time Belleville Shoe celebrated its 25th anniversary, the 
company employed 300 people and manufactured about two thousand pairs 
of shoes daily. Like many companies in that day, Belleville Shoe 
struggled during the Depression--it was a military contract, which was 
again awarded to produce military footwear for World War II, that 
brought the company back to the heavy production schedules it had 
during World War I.

  By the end of World War II, Belleville Shoe had earned an award for 
continued on-time delivery throughout the conflict. It was during this 
period that the strong relationship with our Nation's military was 
forged, permitting Belleville Shoe's claim to be ``the country's oldest 
and largest supplier of military footwear.'' From 1940 to the present, 
Belleville Shoe Manufacturing has provided a continual flow of military 
boots to various divisions of the nation's armed forces.
  In terms of its dress shoe production lines, from the 50's up until 
the 70's, Belleville Shoe experienced significant declines in 
production of dress shoes. During the 70's, Belleville Shoe increased 
production of their sports shoe lines. These sport lines of track, 
baseball and football shoes were produced in Belleville and sold under 
the Rawlings brand name. By the mid-1980s, however, shoe imports of all 
types increased in the United States, particularly sports shoes and 
Belleville Shoe began to focus exclusively on military products. 
Production needs during this time also increased the requirements for 
additional space and heavier equipment to produce larger quantities of 
military shoes. In 1986, a new facility was opened in the Belle Valley 
Industrial Park in Belleville to accommodate this production.
  During Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s, Belleville Shoe was 
again called upon to dramatically increase the military's supply of 
footwear. The design and material of the traditional black all-leather 
combat boot was changed to suit the conditions in the Persian Gulf A 
desert-colored, suede and nylon boot with insulation to protect against 
the desert heat was created and shipped out. These boots are in use 
today in operations in the middle-east and throughout the world.
  In this, its 100th year, Belleville Shoe is the largest supplier of 
military boots to our U.S. Armed Forces. With two plants, one in 
Belleville, Illinois and DeWitt, Arkansas, the company is producing 
over 1,000,000 pairs of shoes annually.
  And today, as in 1917, their boots are Made in the USA. Wherever U.S. 
military forces have walked, Belleville Shoe footwear has been on duty.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the 100th 
Anniversary of the Belleville Shoe Company, it's Company President Eric 
Weidmann and all of the men and women at Belleville Shoe Manufacturing 
Company.

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