In an earlier time shoes were worn, and repaired, until the uppers were worn out. All of the work was done by hand. Young men learned the trade as apprentices until they were experienced enough to establish their own shop in some town. They were shoemakers and basically that was exactly what they were. They were able to make a pair of shoes from scratch, as well as tack or sew on new soles and nail on new heels. Their customers had wooden lasts shaped for their feet setting on the last shelf of their shoemaker shop to be used when they ordered a new pair of shoes. It is now a lost art and the handcraft required took hours to do. It is interesting to know the procedure followed when a customer ordered a new pair of footwear.

Soft leather for the uppers was cut and shaped around a pair of wooden lasts that were the size of the customer¹s feet. Then the welts were attached to the foundation to which the soles and heels could be attached. This took hours of painstaking stitching before the holes for the eyelets were punched and the shoestrings attached and the job was completed. Of course, shoe repairing was the chief source of revenue of the shoemaker. It often required several weeks before a pair of shoes could be mended as the handwork was tedious and one just waited one¹s turn. Learning about that chore was interesting, too

>From whole sides of leather, the soles for the next day¹s work were cut the evening before. Thin leather for the ladies¹ and thick for the men¹s. These were softened overnight for easier working, in small water filled tub. In the morning, the shoemaker sat at his bench with a knee anvil over his leg and hammered the wet pieces of leather until they were hard and toughened. A small tack fastened the sole of the welt of the shoe. Six pieces of fine white thread made with bees¹ wax into one tough thread would have attached a thin quill waxed end. Then the sewing would start. A sharp awl put a hole through the new sole and through the welt. The thread then was passed through and with fingerless gloves protecting the hands, each stitch was tightened.  If soles were to be nailed on, a mouthful of tacks supplied a waiting hammer. Leather heels were attached to the welts with nails and rubber heels were shaped to the shoe by sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood. Black or brown dye was brushed on the new work, and a small hot iron applied put a fine glossy shine on the finished work, and the job was completed.

In a short span of years, the method of performing this craft has drastically changed. Machinery has taken over not only shoemaking and repairing, but it has made nearly everything so different in our way of life.