By the time of the company's founding, Marlborough had built a reputation in shoe and boot making to supply the Union Army during the American Civil War.

He also expanded the distribution capability of the company by opening wholesale houses in St. Louis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Chicago.

At the time of Rice's death in Quincy on March 21, 1909, the company was among the largest shoe manufacturers in the United States.

Harry Rice was born July 28, 1862, in Hudson, MA, and was married to Frances Austin Manson in 1900.

His daughter Mary Sanborn Rice was born February 12, 1874, in Quincy, and was married to portrait painter Homer Lane Bigelow (1868–1955) in 1896.

They resided at 37 Old Orchard Road in the Chestnut Hill section of Newton, MA, and had three children – Priscilla Rice (Bigelow) Trainer (b.