By Marjory J. Sente
A traveling shoe salesman, Maurice L. Tribby, arrived in Prescott in 1906 and went to work at Goldwater’s Department Store selling shoes. Born in Kentucky in 1874, he grew up in Indiana, graduating from high school in 1894. The same year, he enrolled at DePauw University and became a life-long member of Phi Gamma Delta. After college, Maurice followed in the footsteps of his father, John H. Tribby, working as an itinerant footwear purveyor.
At least three members of the Tribby family lived in Yavapai County in 1906. Maurice ran Goldwater’s shoe department. His sister, Minnie, had received her Arizona teaching certificate and taught at the Blanchard School in Huron. John was a principal with the Hillside Consolidated Mining Company with mining interests throughout Yavapai County.
In February 1909, Maurice ‘tied the knot’ with Florence C. Ford, marrying into a pioneer Prescott family. Florence, born in 1882, was the daughter of Clara Beauchamp and George W. Ford. Both came in 1877 from California to Fort Whipple. Married the following year, they had five children.
A year into his marriage to Florence, Maurice resigned from Goldwater’s to launch his own footwear business. Maurice, Florence and John incorporated Tribby’s Shoe Store, Inc. with $15,000 capital stock. The store’s first site was in the Bashford block on Gurley Street.
Sharlot M. Hall praised Tribby’s Shoe Store. In the June 4, 1919, Weekly Journal Miner, she wrote about the problem women who were on their feet all day had finding comfortable shoes.
“With lots of hesitation and the feeling that she was a freak anyway to go around hunting comfort as well as style she made known her wants to the head of the Tribby shoe store--only to be just about as much confused by the wealth of comfortable, durable, and yet pretty and up-to-date styles that were available.”
“Never, nevermore the haunting question of finding a wearable shoe and painfully breaking it in--for here every country woman will find her feet’s if not her heart’s desire. And there are hoses to match--strong, well-fitting hose for outdoor use at everyday prices: dainty things to match the prettiest new pumps. So, one more problem of country life is settled.”
A charter member of the Prescott Rotary Club, founded in 1921, Tribby presented a program at one of the group’s early meetings on how shoes are made and the development of the footwear industry.
His Phoenix store opened in the Hotel San Carlos in 1928. Two youths stole $200 from the store and another $200 from its customers the next year. Tribby reported that his loss was uninsured.
In 1932 he moved the Prescott store into the Hassayampa Hotel Building, where he intended to specialize in women’s and children’s shoes, saying he would stock 1100 pairs. His tenure at this site only lasted 18 months. Citing the need for more space, he moved the business to 107 S. Cortez Street.
In addition to running his shoe stores, Tribby served two terms on Prescott’s City Council from 1933 to 1941. During this time, the business suffered, and he finally closed both stores.
In 1942 Tribby joined the Men’s Shop as manager of the shoe department, where he carried the same lines that his old customers enjoyed. When the store’s owners left Prescott to serve in World War II, they appointed Tribby to manage the business. Upon returning, pleased with the condition of the business, they told Tribby that he could have a job for life. He retired at the age of 82 in 1956. He died in 1964, having lived in Prescott for 58 years.
“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1. The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.