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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Then and Now: ‘Miss Spokane’ dress factory

Factory owner Fred Rixon moved the Edwards Manufacturing Co., which sewed ready-to-wear clothes, from Clinton, Iowa, to Spokane in 1918. The company’s most successful products were “wash frocks” – wash-and-wear casual dresses “for house, garden, porch and street wear,” according to advertisements. Edwards also made matching aprons for housekeepers and homemakers who wanted to be fashionably coordinated.

In 1927, B.J. Hebert, from the family that ran the Kemp and Hebert department store downtown, bought the company from Rixon and began expanding rapidly. He built a large one-story building at 2203 N. Division and filled it with sewing machines, which seemed to double in number every year. He sent salesmen throughout the Western states securing orders for dresses under the brand name Miss Spokane, perhaps borrowed from the title of the city’s ambassador, a young woman who dressed in faux Indian dress. Over several years, the company sold hundreds of thousands of dresses for $1 to $3 each.

In 1933, a tiny news item in the newspaper said Hebert, earlier hailed in the paper as a business “genius” for the success of Miss Spokane dresses, was arrested on a “morals charge.” Later stories revealed he had molested a child. He told the judge, “I cannot explain my conduct,” and begged for time to get his affairs in order before serving 2 ½ years in prison.

The factory’s doors closed, and the employees left jobless. The sewing machines were auctioned and the building sold to Hennessey-Calloway Funeral Directors, who moved from the Buchanan Building downtown.

On parole in 1936, Hebert was again charged with molesting a child. Facing more prison time, Hebert struck a deal to undergo surgical sterilization at Deaconess Hospital and leave town immediately after recovering.

– Jesse Tinsley