Fred Nicklewhite

Falcomb Knuche “Fred” Nicklewhite was born on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas and moved with his family in 1898 to Vermont. Trained as a master tailor, Nicklewhite spent summers working at the Equinox Hotel in Manchester and winters working at the Don CeSar Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida. His notable clientele included legendary jazz musicians Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, with whom he maintained great friendships. Investing in his adopted hometown of Manchester, Nicklewhite owned several buildings that once stood at this site, including an early-19th-century house with Italianate-style alterations, two barns, a tailor shop, and a 1872 tinsmith/plumber’s shop that was rehabilitated for the Nicklewhite Shoe Factory.