The Cobbler's Shop - Shoes Custom Fit

The Cobbler and Shoemaker Shop, acquired several years ago by the Maple Festival, is now in its own building and a permanent part of Festival Park.

The Cobbler Shop is especially unique, since it was purchased in its entirety and reputed to be "the most complete cobbler shop east of the Mississippi." Once the property of Charles A. Dively, the cobbler shop consists of a cobbler's bench, sewing machine, more than 100 wooden patterns and lasts for shoes and boots.

There are pieces of leather used in shoe construction, numerous adjustable metal patterns of later vintage, a host of tools, including nippers, a punch, knives, button hole cutters, heel shaves, awls, hammers, breaks, planes, clamps, metal repairing lasts, blocks and jacks.

The equipment also includes boxes of tiny wooden pegs of hard maple, used in nailing soles and heels. They were all hand-pointed. Foot measures, two wooden boot jacks, bottles of oil, cans of wax for thread, boot stretchers and a counter case are all on display.

The large wooden boot that was displayed outside the original cobbler shop is now attached to the outside of our shop to invite visitors to the antique cobbler display. On cold days, the old pot belly stove that once warmed Mr. Dively as he worked more than a century ago warms visitors and the cobbler shop guide.

Records found with the equipment revealed that much of the shoemaking and repair business was done on a credit basis. Food, wood, coal, plowing and other services were exchanged for the cobbler's work.

A pair of good, handmade shoes or boots for the man of the household cost from $4.00 to $7.00; while mother's shoes generally were about $3.00. Children's footwear cost from 50 cents to $2.75. Repairs were made for 10 cents to $1.25