Business: Beacon Shoes. F. M. Hoyt Company, makers of the Beacon Shoes. The founder of this firm, Mr. F. M. Hoyt, began making shoes in 1880, in a small factory in Haverhill, Mass. Mr. F. M. Hoyt died in 1903 and Mr. Hovey E. Slayton succeeded him as president of the company. In 1904, the firm determined to name their product and it was then that the Beacon Shoe came into existence. The result of this intensive advertising has made the Beacon Shoe leader in America, and its Lighthouse trade-mark familiar throughout the United States and even abroad. It is a significant fact that the greatest growth of this company dates from the first advertising of this shoe with a name.
The F. M. Hoyt Shoe Company makes only men's and boys' shoes. Unlike most American shoe manufacturers, this company has never made army shoes or shoes for women. In fact until 1914 the product of the company was a better grade of men's shoes only, but logically reasoning that if a boy is satisfied with a certain shoe, he will purchase the same brand of shoe when he becomes a man, the making of shoes for boys was inaugurated with excellent success
