50 years ago, in 1957, Lawrence B. Sheppard, President of Hanover Shoe Company, opposed a Hanover council proposal to limit parking on Carlisle Street from Park Avenue to Library Place to three-hours. Mr. Sheppard warned that such an ordinance "... would force the factory owners to move from the community." The regulation, which had been proposed to provide more parking for shoppers, was then tabled. However the parking regulations played out, the shoe company continued to prosper in Hanover.
Sheppard was the son of Harper D. Sheppard, who, with his partner Clinton N. Myers, built a struggling shoe factory into a nationally-known maker of quality shoes. The web site of the Sheppard Mansion, an inn and fine dining establishment opened in 1998 by Sheppard descendants, states that Sheppard and Myers built their shoe empire on selling the best possible shoes for one price ($2.50 in 1899) and by selling directly to the public.
