Following the Civil War, the shoe business boomed and numerous factories were built. Farmington was known as "The Shoe Capital of New Hampshire" for some time. Other factories produced knives, knit underwear, wooden boxes, wooden handles and carriages. A large fire in 1875 destroyed much of the center of town, but the community survived. Brushes were manufactured by the F. W. Browne Company, from which Booker T. Washington ordered twelve street brooms in 1915 for use at the Tuskegee Institute. The town was home to five blacksmith shops, a movie theater, and two hotels. The Panic of 1893 closed all but two large shoe factories. Local industries faded in the latter half of the 20th century. Most of the factories were either demolished or converted into other purposes.