Charles M. Henderson moved from New England to Chicago in 1853, when he was 19, and joined the business of his uncle C. N. Henderson. In 1855, C. N. Henderson & Co. manufactured $12,000 worth of boots and sold another $250,000 worth of footwear made in Eastern factories. In 1859, the younger Henderson started his own business, C. M. Henderson & Co. By the early 1870s, when total sales reached about $2 million a year, this company's factory at the corner of Madison and Franklin Streets had about 150 employees, who made about $350,000 worth of boots and shoes per year. By this time, Henderson & Co. was one of the leading shoe companies in the Midwest. During the 1880s and early 1890s, annual wholesale sales had reached $3 million, and three Chicago-area factories employed nearly 1,000 people.

This entry is part of the Encyclopedia's Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000) that was prepared by Mark R. Wilson, with additional contributions from Stephen R. Porter and Janice L. Reiff.