Follow this "Frontier Heritage" tour at your own pace.
Frontier Texas (click here for more details)
Start at Abilene's premier interactive history museum. Frontier Texas brings to life the drama and hardships of the Texas frontier from 1780 to 1880.
The Grace Museum (click here for more details)
Boots were a must for frontier life. They protected cowboys from mud, snow, gravel, brush, thorn, and horn, allowing them to always keep one thickness between their pants and their legs.
The Mallouf Boot Shop exhibit on the third floor of The Grace Museum recreates the 1940s-era workshop of longtime Brownwood boot-maker Albert Mallouf. The third-floor also has a history museum with exhibits about life in West Texas from 1940 to 1945.
James Leddy Boots
1602 North Treadaway 325-677-7811
Open weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The children of celebrated boot maker James Leddy carry on his legacy of creating world-class boots at his workshop and store on North Treadaway – a block east of Walnut Street.
The boot workshop is in full view, and the Leddy family always is hospitably willing to take guests around to see the whole boot-making process. Each boot has a story, and the shop includes a nice-sized room stocked with Leddy boots that guests can peruse. Leddy’s celebrity clients have included Western singing stars such as George Jones, Mel Tillis, Larry Gatlin, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buck Owens. Famous ranchers and not-so-famous hard-working farmers and ranchers loved to order Leddy’s boots and didn’t mind that he often had a six-month to one-year waiting list.
Bell Custom-Made Boots & Repair
2118 North Treadaway 325-677-0632
Alan Bell is another legendary Texas boot maker and was a close friend of Leddy, he has a charmingly rustic workshop just a few blocks north of Leddy’s, and walk-ins are welcome. Bell is always good for a story or two, but call first to make sure he hasn’t gone fishing.
Lankford’s Texas Mesquite Products
1042 Cottonwood (off Treadaway) 325-670-9888.
Terry Lankford fashions ranch-style furniture and accessories that capture the natural beauty of Texas Mesquite. His creations are in demand through custom orders from around the country, but he often has pieces for sale right outside his workshop. He’s happy to show guests his craft can usually be found at the shop.
325-677-7811
