W. Jiles Shoe Factory
Willis Jiles crosses the street to his business, ca. late 1920s.
Courtesy of the State Archives of Florida
From 1897 to 1925, Sarah Roberts Felkel owned the bank property and resided in The Columns next door on Adams Street. Felkel, the longest resident of The Columns, leased out the Union Bank building to businesses.
Willis Jiles was born on April 1, 1875, in rural Leon County. He worked as a farm laborer, and later attended Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he learned the art of shoemaking. By 1910, Jiles opened a successful shoe factory in Tallahassee serving both Black and White customers.
In 1915, W. Jiles married Susie Baker, who came from a long line of Black farmers. Baker worked as a seamstress and for a time as a teacher. All nine of their children graduated from either Florida A&M or Xavier Universities.
Willis Jiles Sr. and Susie Baker Jiles, ca. 1920s
Courtesy of State Archives of Florida
In 1927, W. Jiles Shoe Factory moved into the south (now east) side of the Union Bank building, where it remained until 1931. Customers included elite clientele, like Governor Doyle Carlton, who gave Jiles an alligator hide to make a pair of boots for him. In 1985, the Jiles and Baker families held a 225-person reunion in Tallahassee, which included a slideshow in the Union Bank about the history of the building.
Jiles and Baker family reunion in 1985. From left to right, Susie Jiles Williams, Emma B. Williams, Wilbur Jiles, Sadie Jiles Spears, the Rev. Dennis H. Jamison, Willis Jiles Jr., Thelma Jiles Speed, Chess Shine, and Annie Baker Larkins.
Courtesy of the Tallahassee Democrat
Advertisement from earlier location on College Avenue
Tallahassee Democrat, 1916
Jiles Shoe Factory letterhead, ca. 1934
Courtesy of the Museum of Florida History
