Thomas Gustave Plant

Thomas Gustave Plant (1859-1941) was a French-Canadian immigrant who made his fortune manufacturing shoes under the Queen Quality Shoes label. His largest shoe factory, the Thomas G. Plant Shoe Factory (1896-1976) in Roxbury (now Jamaica Plain), Massachusetts, stood at [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=centre+street+and+bickford+street,+jamaica+plain+02130 the corner of Centre and Bickford streets] . Marketing materials from the factory proclaimed it to be the largest shoe factory in the world.Tom Plant: The Making of a Franco-American Entrepreneur, 1859-1941 (Studies in Entrepreneurship), by Barry Hatfield Rodrigue, Garland Publishing (1994), ISBN 0-8153-0988-0.]

The factory boasted numerous innovations and amenities for its workers, including an adjacent park at the corner of Centre and Walden streets. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and completed in 1913. [http://www.nps.gov/frla/archives.htm Olmsted Archives] , Job Number 03792, Thomas G. Plant Company, Roxbury, Massachusetts (09 Grounds of Commercial & Industrial Buildings).]

Plant used his fortune to build Lucknow, an estate on a mountain overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. It is now known as "Castle in the Clouds" and is tourist attraction.

The factory changed hands several times in the 20th century, and by the 1970s was used as artist workspaces.

The factory burned in 1976 in a dramatic fire."The Shoe Factory’s Demise: Jamaica Plain’s Most Unforgettable Fire," by Walter H. Marx, Jamaica Plain Gazette: Jamaica Plain, MA. August 9, 1991.] The burned-out site became known locally as "the ruins." The site was redeveloped in the 1990s as a strip mall and supermarket.

In 1917, Thomas Plant built The Plant Home, an assisted living home, in Bath, Maine. His reasons for doing so have become the vision of the home. "This home is founded on my sincere belief that those who have lived honest, industrious lives and are wtihout means or friends to care for them, have earned the right to be cared for. Only through the labor and expenditures of others is it possible..." Mr. Plant endowed the home with 3,300 shares of his shoe company, equating to $400,000 at the time. The home sits on the banks of the Kennebec River in Bath and to this day, still provides private apartments and assisted living care to low-income elders.

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