Luskey’s / Ryon’s · History

Why collectors care

Luskey’s / Ryon’s is a Fort Worth western retail house with a cobbler founding, not a standing factory ID. Collectors meet “bought at Luskey’s” captions that do not prove Luskey-made pairs.

Taxonomy here is manufacturing-company / retail house. Texas Monthly (June 2002) described a custom program measured in Fort Worth and built in Raymondville. Separate Sean Ryon Stockyards businesses are not this store.

Store history

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (6 April 1979) traces Abraham Luskey from a Russian-cavalry bootmaking claim and a Galveston-to-Fort Worth immigrant path. He sent for his family in 1913, when son Jake was thirteen, and opened a 1919 general store about seventeen blocks from downtown, across a wagon yard. The store sold Abraham’s handmade boots, piece goods, and hats, and specialized in western wear from 1920. Abraham died in an accident in 1933. Jake headed the firm and retired in 1960. By 1979 the house had six stores.

Windy (Don) Ryon opened Ryon’s Saddle Shop in the Stockyards in 1944 and added a rustic storefront in 1959. Luskey’s bought and merged with Ryon’s in 1982 at 2601 N. Main. The combined store sold to Cavender’s in 2016. Alan Luskey Day was 30 September 2017. The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame inducted the house in 2018. Alan Luskey died 11 April 2019.

Texas House H.R. 1450 records that Alan Luskey was born 19 July 1959, studied finance at the University of Texas, was third generation, and “enjoyed making custom boots for many people he admired.” How much of the “ninety years of hand making boots” language is retail versus bench remains open.