1950s Custom Cowboy Boots

Made by Dixon's Boot Company. Wichita Falls, Texas

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These are looking for a new home... see my Vintage Cowboy Boot Exchange for details...

Vintage Cowgirl Boots

Great old cowgirl boots. Bench made. No makers mark. They remind me of boots made by C.H. Hyer, Kuykendall and Starnes.

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Heart Stitched Cowgirl Boots

Maker Unknown. ca. 1900
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Bootmakers and cobblers set-up shop in communities along the early cattle trails. Cattle drives in the 1850s could take as long as five or six months. Most started in San Antonio or Fredericksburg. The drives followed a southern route through El Paso to San Diego or Los Angeles and on north to San Francisco. Cattle were trailed to West Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kansas... beef for the frontier forts and Indian reservations.

By 1866, ranching and cattle trailing was a thriving, growing business. The Chisholm Trail. The Goodnight-Loving Trail. The Western or Dodge City Trail. Trails that would come to define the face of the American West as we know it today.

The bootmakers, known and unknown, who lived and worked along those trails and the boots they made would come to define the Art of the Boot as we know it today.

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Cowgirl Boots: Collection J. Davis

Photography: J. Davis

Vintage Justin Cowgirl Boots

Post World War II was an extraordinary time in bootmaking history. Leather and thread no longer rationed. Inlays and exotic hides started to show up in factory made boots. Flamboyant designs quickly replaced older, conservative designs. Hollywood stars. Western style. Savvy marketing. The Golden Age of Cowboy Boots was in full swing.

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The Justin Boot Company in Fort Worth, Texas made some extraordinary cowboy and cowgirl boots in those days. Earl and John Justin, Jr. were proud of Justin's innovative designs. Justifiably so. Elaborate inlays. Bright colors. Fancy stitching. Underslung heels. Wing tips. Justin made some stunning cowboy and cowgirl boots.

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The Little Cowpoke

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1948 Justin Cowgirl Boots

The Art of the Boot
Western fashion as art by the Justin Boot Company

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Justin Cowgirl Boots: Collection J. Davis
Justin Advertising Art: Collection J. Davis

Photography: J. Davis