Everett and Barron was founded in 1895 by Samuel A Everett. The company’s activities centered around shoe polish and dressings.
The Who’s Who in New England, published in 1916, maintained a listing for Samuel A Everett.
Founded the firm of Everette & Baron, mfg. agts., 1895 and became sole owner in 1897; incorporated in 1903, Everett & Barron Co., of which he has since been president and treasurer.
The business was located at 217 Canal Street through the late teens and later at 359 Eddy in Providence. Samuel A Everette was still listed as president and treasurer through 1945 (at 79 years old). A year later, in 1946, P. A. Boyd had replaced Everette as president and treasurer.The business was still listed in the Providence Directories as late as 1964 (the latest directory I could find).
Early on, the company sold several products under a brand name called U.N.O. In 1906, the company acquired the Columbia Shoe Dressing Co. and the Burbank Manufacturing Co. A notice in a 1906 issue of the “Canadian Shoe and Leather Journal” announced the acquisitions and provided a partial summary of their expanded product/brand menu.
Everett & Barron Company of Amherst Nova Scotia and Providence Rhode Island, manufacturer’s of the “U.N.O.” Shoe Blacking have recently purchased all trade marks, stock and good will of the Columbia Shoe Dressing Company, Bath, Maine and also of the Burbank Mfg. Co., Boston. In addition to the line which they formally manufactured, they will now make the “Trilby Polish” , “Twentieth Century Dressing,” “Goodrich Combination,” and all brands manufactured by the Columbia Dressing Company, and also the “American National Dressing,” “University,” and other brands formerly owned by the Burbank Mfg. Company. They have also added more room to their Providence factory and are fitting it with the most improved machinery.
An advertisement from the 1920’s continued to promote their U.N.O brand and also mentioned one of the acquired brands, Trilby Polish.
The company also maintained a Canadian factory in Amherst, Nova Scotia. According to one 1910 magazine article, by then, they were “now shipping their polish in Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and also covering Newfoundland, and other islands on the Canadian coast.
The company maintained an office in New York City for a while as well. The Copartnership and Corporation Directories list them at 127 Duane Street between 1907 and 1915. During that time Frank B Mansfield served as the New York Manager. Apparently focused on sales, a September 11, 1907 article in the “Boot and Shoe Recorder” provided some background on Mansfield as well as Everett & Barron.
Frank B Mansfield, representing the Everett & Barron Company, of Providence R.I., starts on Monday for his semi-annual trip through New York and Pennsylvania.
The history of shoe polish in this section would not be complete without mention of Mansfield, for whether “Goodrich,” “Trilby,” or “U.N.O.,” the same individuality is behind the pushing of the goods…Ten years or more ago when liquid shoe polish was a struggling youngster on this market, Mr. Mansfield, as New York State manager, began the missionary work which was the foundation of a business of which one might well be proud.
The old Goodrich concern was merged into the Columbia Shoe Dressing Company, and it’s trade marks, formulas etc. later purchased by the Everett & Barron Company, of Providence R.I., which is now making the entire line in connection with the well known U.N.O. brands of polish which are everywhere recognized as standard.
Mr. Mansfield starts out with the “best polish made,” not best simply because he is selling it, but because he believes it is, in which opinion he is confirmed by a goodly proportion of dealers throughout the territory.
The company was also apparently committed to research of new products as well. The 1940 Bulletin of the National Research Council included them in a list of Industrial Research Laboratories. Their laboratory, which started around 1907, included a director and a staff of three chemists. They listed waterproofing compounds, dyes, emulsions, shoe dressings and similar compounds, paint, oils colloids and lacquers as research activities.
It looks like they weren’t just focused on chemistry. In 1927 they were advertising a combined polish, dauber and brush that was probably quite innovative at the time.
The current building at 127 Duane Street was built in 1915. Everett & Barron’s last listing at that address was 1915 so I assume they were forced to vacate to facilitate construction of the current building.
The bottle I found is machine made, listed as two ounces and probably from the 1920’s.