International Shoe Company

Furniture Brands International, Inc., was a Clayton, Missouri-based home furnishings company. Some of the brands it owned in the furniture industry included Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Hickory Chair, Pearson, Laneventure, and Maitland-Smith.

The company began in 1911 as International Shoe Company with the merger of Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Company and Peters Shoe Company. In 1966 the company changed its name to Interco as the result of diversification, and once the company exited the shoe business, adopted the name Furniture Brands International. Some of the brands it owned in the furniture industry included Broyhill, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Hickory Chair, Pearson, Laneventure, and Maitland-Smith. In 2013, Furniture Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to sell most of its divisions. New owner KPS Capital Partners announced the formation of Heritage Home Group on November 25 of that year.

At age 16 in the 1870s, Henry W. Peters went to work for Claflin, Allen & Company, at a time when St. Louis, Missouri had wholesale distributors of shoes rather than manufacturers. As Peters moved up in the company, the city's production of shoes increased from a half-million in 1883 to nine times that, and Claflin, Allen & Company was one of the largest shoe makers. Peters became president and then left in 1891 to form his own company, Peters Shoe Company, with help from relatives. Peters Shoe Company started with $200,000 in capital and almost doubled in size in its first decade, requiring a move from 7th Street and Washington Avenue to a larger building at 11th Street and Washington. Isaac S. Taylor designed the eight-story headquarters built in 1901 at 13th Street and Washington, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

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