The Golden Belt Manufacturing Co. plant, off East Main Street near Elizabeth Street, opened in 1901 to produce cotton cloth and thread for smoking-tobacco bags. Julian Shakespeare Carr formed the company in 1887, and for its first 24 years Golden Belt occupied a section of the W.T. Blackwell complex near downtown. Eventually the factory expanded its product line to include paper stamps and packaging for cigarettes, and cardboard boxes. The company ceased operations in 1996; about 10 years later developer Andy Rothschild bought the buildings and remodeled them into a multi-purpose complex with residential apartments, artists' studios, offices, retail space and a ballroom. Golden Belt reopened in the summer of 2008. Shodor moved into Golden Belt in Fall 2010.