1850: Auspicious beginnings
It all started in Newark, New Jersey, a town near the New York City port of Ellis Island, where the vast majority of European immigrants entered the United States. One of those immigrants was William J. Dudley, a master craftsman who had been schooled in the classic tradition of English shoe making. Filled with hopes of American opportunity, he established the William J. Dudley Shoe Company in his Newark home. For a while, Dudley was the company's only associate.

He manufactured the shoes, and then he sold them. But as word of the quality and value of his shoes spread, Dudley soon found himself unable to meet the demand single-handedly. He needed help, and Ellis Island provided it in the form of skilled shoemakers from his native England and points throughout Europe. It was a new company, but its reputation as a maker of quality shoes was already growing. In 1850, Millard Filmore became the 13th President of the United States. It was also the year in which he received a pair of handmade shoes from the William J. Dudley Shoe Company.