Constructed in the early 1800s, this small building was the shoe shop of Henry Wilson, a senator from Massachusetts and later 18th Vice President under the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. Wilson was originally from New Hampshire and his birth name was Jeremiah Colbath until he settled in the Natick area and changed his name in 1833. At the time, shoemaking was very much a cottage industry with production taking place in “ten footer” shops, in reference to the internal dimensions being roughly 10 square feet. The railroad arrived in…
