C.M. HENDERSON & CO., CHICAGO PROMOTIONAL "GIVE-AWAY" TRADE CARD, WITH COLOR PRINTED CUT-OUT FACSIMILE OF THEIR TRADE-MARK "NEW ENGLAND RED SCHOOL HOUSE," ADVERTISING THE COMPANY'S SCHOOL SHOES, FOR SALE BY R.M. FARISS & CO., HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS by [Henderson] [Arkansas] - 1890

[Chicago: C.M. Henderson & Co, 1890. 16 x 31 cm., printed on both sides, lightly creased from folding. One side has an outlined illustration, printed in red and black, of the "red school-house," plus cut-outs of people, a chimney, trees, and a fence, all to be assembled with a series of folds and a bottle of glue, to "construct in miniature the famous little building." Any boy or girl found wearing or purchasing a pair of the Henderson shoes was entitled to the cut-out illustration. This one is uncut and unused. On the verso is text advertising the Henderson Company's signature kid and goat button shoes, which are stamped with the trade-mark Little Red School House on the bottom of one of each pair, as well as instructions on how to assemble the cut-out, and the ad for R.M. Fariss, a dealer in Hot Springs. C.M. Henderson, born in Connecticut, joined his uncle in the shoe business in Chicago in the early 1850's. When his uncle died, Henderson took over the company which he had to rebuild twice after fires, including the great Chicago fire of 1871. According to Jonathan Zimmerman's book "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory," [Yale: 2009], Henderson used the "Little Red School House" trademark on his shoes as early as 1884. He exhibited his brand at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Henderson & Co. was one of the largest shoe manufacturers in the midwest.