The Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company building at 1115 Wilkes Boulevard, In Columbia, Missouri, is significant under Criterion A, in the area of Industry. The building was built over the winter of 1906-1907, and went into use in 1907. It served as a Hamilton-Brown shoe factory from then until 1939; the period of significance thus runs from 1907-1939. The large factory building, which is intact and a contributing building, is the only resource on the property. The Columbia plant was built early in a period of decentralization of shoe manufacturing in the state. In the early years of the 20th century, all of the major shoe manufacturers in St. Louis, including Hamilton-Brown, began locating new plants in outstate communities to save labor costs. The Columbia factory was the first facility that Hamilton-Brown, which was at the time the largest shoe manufacturing company in the world, operated outside of St. Louis. It was also the first large-scale industrial facility of any kind to operate in Columbia, and the largest, and often only, industrial operation in the community for most of the period of significance. The factory building today provides an intact, highly significant link with Columbia's early industrial history. - NRHP, 5 May 2000