Kapitan Moy Residence

Kapitan Moy Building, situated in Marikina, Metro Manila, the Philippines, is the 200-year-old house of Don Laureano Guevarra (4 July 1851 – 30 December 1891), known as the founder of the Marikina shoe industry. Also known as Kapitan Moy, he served as capitan municipal in the former municipality. A historical marker honoring him as the "Pioneer of the Shoe-making Industry in Marikina" was installed at his birthplace in 1970. Presently, there are two restaurants found in the ground floor of the Kapitan Moy Building and these are Café Kapitan Restaurant and Kusina ni Kambal. At the Café Kapitan Restaurant is an old well which serves as a décor and a wishing well to customers.

Guevara was the fifth child of businessman Jose Emiterio Guevara of Quiapo, Manila and Timotea Mariquita Andres. His father established the shop named La Industrial in Escolta, Manila—a bazaar, printing press, lithography shop, and firearms dealer rolled into one. The business sustained the Guevara family well enough that his parents were able to send his brother Remigio to study in Paris, France. Guevara learned the basics of reading and writing from his parents. Later on, he was enrolled in the Ateneo Municipal but it appears that he did not finish his education. He was more interested in what was practical and immersed himself in the family business. Together with his other brothers, he left the family home in Marikina very early in the morning to deliver and sell their products in Manila before sunrise. It was said that Guevara observed the economic conditions of the people of Marikina and set about finding a solution.

In 1887, Marikina emerged as a town of shoemakers through the pioneering efforts of Don Laureano "Kapitan Moy" Guevara. When the soles of Kapitan Moy's own imported shoes broke, he tried to personally fix his shoes and started experimenting with shoemaking because he did not want to go all the way to Manila. Although some Marikenos were already engaged in the limited production of slippers and clogs, or bakya even before the coming of the Spaniards, only the Chinese located in Manila were engaged in shoe repair and manufacture at that time.

To get an idea on how to fix his broken shoes, Kapitan Moy disassembled its parts, studying closely the intricacies of how the shoes fit together. Tiburcio "Busyong" Eustaquio, a wooden clog or bakya maker provided Kapitan Moy with shoe lasts to help him discover how shoes were made. Since Kapitan Moy had no background in shoemaking, the tools he used in making the first Marikina shoes were borrowed from blacksmiths in Marikina and Pasig. After several unsuccessful attempts, Kapitan Moy finally produced the first pair of shoes that would inspire the whole town to embark on the new industry of shoemaking.

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Wikipedia