Historic Downtown San Angelo Magazine Jan 2022

Historic

Winter 2022

DOWNTOWN San Angelo

BUILDING DOWNTOWN • ONE BLOCK AT A TIME

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Welcome to Historic Downtown San Angelo, where a mix of modern art and a Western heritage create a socially inclusive experience.

Explore, play, dine, celebrate, shop, and relax with your family and friends. The words used to describe Historic Downtown San Angelo are as numerous and diverse as the people who live and visit here.

Del Velasquez Executive Director

Downtown San Angelo, Inc. 24 West Concho Avenue San Angelo, TX 76903 Phone: 325-655-2345 Fax: 325-655-1234 E-mail: director@dtsa.org

Keep up with all things Downtown by following us on FaceBook!

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS IN MINISTRY

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26 East Concho Ave. 26

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A Steakhouse in Historic Downtown A Steakh

Monday Monday - Saturday - Saturday Lunch 11am to 5pm, Lunch Dinner11am from 5pm to to 105pm, pm

Cathouse Bar &from Lounge from Cathouse Bar & Lounge Open 11am untilOpen Close

Live MusicMusic in the Bar and on Friday and Lounge Saturday Nights Live in Lounge the Bar and on Fr The legend of Miss Hattie’s goes beyond its history. Voted as one of the Best Burgers in Texas by Texas Monthly, and reputed as one of the best 21-day aged mesquite smoked rib eye steaks by our customers.

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CORNER OF CONCHO AND IRVING • 325-949-1111

San Angelo residents and visitors from surrounding communities and beyond explore, play, dine, celebrate, shop, and relax in the heart of the community that is Historic Downtown San Angelo.

For advertising opportunities in the Historic Downtown Magazine email DTSAMagazine@Gmail.com

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HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SAN ANGELO

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100 Years CELEBRATING

MAKING BOOTS, M A K I N G H I ST O RY

M . L . L E D DY ' S

BY LINDA THORSEN B OND

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HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SAN ANGELO

M.L. Leddy's is where boots are built. They are worn all over the world. And worn.

And worn. Because Leddy’s handmade boots are created and fitted for each person and they last a long, long time.

Like the shop itself.

Since M.L. Leddy started his boot shop in 1922 and moved to San Angelo in 1936, the process has been the same.

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In the workroom, one man is building toes, as he has for 40 years.

That’s what he does. He doesn’t roam around the shop, telling the heel man how to glue leather to wood; he doesn’t stand over the woman painstakingly stitching a fancy pattern. He just makes toes. For 40 years this man has made high quality, unique toes for M.L. Leddy’s boots.

That’s the way it is in this place where boots are built. Each worker does one thing and does it exceptionally well.

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M.L. Leddy’s granddaughter Beverly Franklin Allen said, “People come by all the time wanting to sell us machines that would do away with a couple of jobs but we don’t do that. There’s a lot we could do to make it faster but we’re using the machines from my grandfather’s day. In fact, Grandfather invented the machine that helps turn the boots right-side-out after they have been inside-up; that is one of the hardest things to get done in boot making.”

Beverly is, and will always be, the baby sister. She’s bubbly, friendly and a fast talker. She loves to tell the story of how her granddaddy M.L. Leddy started working on saddles and repairing boots in Brady, moved to Menard then settled in San Angelo in 1936. His brothers Frank and Albert moved their part of the boot

business to Fort Worth but when they retired they sold M.L. the Leddy Brothers business too.

M.L. had two sons, Dale and Hollis, and a daughter, Joyce. Joyce married Jim Franklin who worked in the San Angelo store. They had three children, Rusty, Wilson and Beverly.

Beverly said, “My father knew how to treat people. Everybody said Franklin makes people happy. Hollis did the bookkeeping and Dell was a wonderful Christian who did the advertising and packaging and he also made sure that at the end of the day, everybody was happy. Hollis said ‘If Jim Franklin hadn’t been on the floor, I wouldn’t have had any money to manage.’

And if Hollis hadn’t managed the money, Dell wouldn’t have had anybody to keep happy. Dell was the peacekeeper.”

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G R A N D FAT H E R INVENTED THE M AC H I N E T H AT HELPS TURN THE B O O T S R I G H TSIDE-OUT AFTER T H E Y H AV E B E E N I N S I D E - U P ; T H AT IS ONE OF THE HARDEST THINGS TO GET DONE IN BOOT MAKING. “My father sent Wilson—the owner of M.L. Leddy’s-- to manage the Fort Worth store in 1970,” Beverly said. “Father said the Fort Worth store needed the Franklin personality in it. In 1980, I was just the little sister. I was looking for all the gold in California, and I scared myself so much I came home.”

In the mid-‘90s when the oil bust happened and downtown died out, all the major businesses moved west so Leddy’s did too.

As time rolled on, Wilson moved Leddy’s back downtown and that’s where it is today at 222 South Oakes.

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When Beverly said the custom boots are $14-95, I thought for moment, “I can afford that!” then I toured the place where each person worked on one part of the boot, and I thought “Hmm. I don’t think she means $14.95 like I do.” And sure enough, the beginning price is $1,495, and the sky’s the limit on the high end.

Beverly said, “We sell a lot of full quill ostrich and smooth ostrich probably more than anything else but we have up to $6,705 for alligator. That’s what I call the cream of the crop. We have been using the same tanners and different tannages come and go. Right now the vintage and distressed look is popular, but we have it all.”

Beverly said Sammy Farmer is the manager of the San Angelo M.L. Leddy’s and buys may things for the shop including all of the lemon wood pegs and items like the 40-penny nails.

Each custom handmade boot owner has a page in M.L. Leddy’s old-fashioned bank ledgers, where the individual foot measurements of more than 250,000 customers have been painstakingly recorded by hand. Footprints of presidents, royalty, rock stars and regular folk have a hand-written code inked inside each boot top that allows Leddy’s to trace each pair to its original owner.

DOWNTOWNSANANGELO.COM

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Despite its high fallutin’ customers, Leddy’s also has down-to-earth buyers.

“My grandfather always said we will have a custom-fit boot that will be the price of a cowboy’s wage for the month,” Beverly said.

“Sure, you can design a boot and get all yippeeki-yay, but what we started as and still are known for is our comfort. People say they can wear their M.L. Leddy boots 24/7 because of the arch support and comfort. They’re not just fancy and pretty, they’re comfortable too.

Beverly added, “I saw a family looking in the windows and they decided we were too expensive so they didn’t come in. I looked at the man and he was probably buying three or four pair of work boots a year. He was wide in the toes but narrow in the heel and I could tell he had wallered all over his boots. I told him to come on in because we’re built on helping you. It doesn’t matter what leather you get, you’ll love the arch support. Now he gets our boots every time and that’s our best advertising.”

When Beverly talks about 40-penny nails, that’s not something symbolic. There’s actually a big ole nail bent and twisted into the arch support of each boot. It’s fitted for the arch of the one person who will wear that boot for a long, long time.

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M.L. Leddy's is still family owned, as Beverly will gladly tell you. “People come from all over to see us here in downtown San Angelo. We’re where boots are built.”

OS WA NN SA AN NG AE NL G OE .LCOO. M C O D O WDNO TWONWT N

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M

MEMBER

Spotlight Thank you to our Patron Level members

Learn more about the Downtown San Angelo, Inc. membership program at www.DowntownSanAngelo.com 1 6 HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SAN ANGELO

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We are a member congregation of Eco: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.

We have ministries for all ages.

Join us for Sunday Mornings Sunday School—9:15am Worship Service—10:30am

We worship @ 10:30 a.m. every Sunday!

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