Bootmaker
J. L. Mercer and Son
J.L. Mercer and Son ran a custom boot shop on S. Chadbourne Street in San Angelo, Texas. J.L. Mercer began working in his father's shop at age eleven and, seventy years later, was still selling boots from that storefront and at rodeos, cutting-horse competitions, and the State Fair, specializing in work boots, ropers, and crepe soles.
History
J. L. Mercer and Son ran a custom shop in San Angelo, Texas, profiled in Joe Nick Patoski's June 2002 Texas Monthly roundup. J. L. Mercer began working in his father's shop at age eleven and, seventy years later, was still selling boots from that same storefront and at rodeos, cutting-horse competitions, and the State Fair. The shop specialized in basic work boots, ropers, and crepe soles, priced from $450 with about a three-month turnaround.
This shop is not the same as the San Angelo ‘Mercer Boot Company’ that research on Charlie Dunn places around 1936, the year M. L. Leddy is said to have bought out a Mercer shop; no source ties that 1936 sale to J. L. Mercer and Son specifically.
Known for
Longtime San Angelo shop; three generations on S. Chadbourne