W. F. SHAFFER

W. F. Shaffer, who is secretary of the Vance Shoe Company, of 
Wheeling, West Virginia, has been associated with that business for a 
number of years. This business was established in 1837 and was first 
conducted by C. D. Knox & Company, who were known as a shoe and 
leather firm.  The firm next became known as Vance & Adams, and in 
1870 as Vance & Hughes Company.

The Vance Shoe Company was incorporated in 1885.  Its first officers 
we J. N. Vance, president, John C. Riheldaffer, secretary, and 
treasurer; and three directors, including the officers and J. N. 
Vance.  The firm has always been located on Main Street, and for the 
past four years business has been conducted at No. 1304 - 1306 Main 
Street.  The building is five stories high, and has a frontage of 33 
feet, with a depth of 105 feet.  The building was erected by the 
present firm.  The Vance Shoe Company carries the largest stock of 
its kind in West Virginia, and is probably the largest shoe concern 
between Baltimore and Chicago.  In the past ten years the growth has 
been especially rapid.  The firm has a factor at West Pullman, 
Illinois, for the manufacture of men's shoes.  This business is known 
as the Phoenix Company, and was established in 1894.  About 30 people 
are employed in the house at Wheeling, with 14 traveling 
representatives.  The territory covered includes West Virginia, Ohio, 
Kentucky, and portions of Indiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland and 
Virginia.


From "HISTORY OF WHEELING and Ohio County, West Virginia and 
Representative Citizens."  Edited & Compiled by Hon. Gibson Lamb 
Cranmer.  Biographical Publishing, 1902. 

(Peggy Lynn Rowe)