Shoes Make News Across the Nation
An announcement in the Lawrence County News August 5, 1943, stated that the F W Cox store that served the people of Bridgeport and community for almost fifty years was going out of business. Emmet l Cox had fixed the closing date for September 28, 1943, the 50th anniversary of the store. The business had previously been destroyed in the infamous Friday the 13th (June) 1913 fire that burned much of the business district; but for the last thirty years the store had been located on Main Street.
When Emmet Cox started closing out his entire stock of merchandise, he brought out several hundred pairs (400 to be exact) of high top, pointed-toed shoes, fashionable in the early 1900’s. These were placed on sale at 25 cents per pair as souvenirs of the F.W. Cox store.
Shoes were rationed during World War II. The United States implemented a shoe rationing program starting on February 9, 1943, due to shortages of leather and rubber, which were critical materials for military supplies and civilian footwear. Each person was typically allowed only three to four pairs of shoes per year, and ration books containing coupons were issued to manage these allocations but these “souvenir” shoes of Emmet Cox’s required no ration stamps.
These vintage shoes appealed to the younger set and immediately a fad began with girls wearing them to Tracy Junior High School in Bridgeport. The AP newspaper syndicate picked up the story in Chicago and photos went out over the wire! The following ad was found in the Austin American Statesman newspaper October 7, 1943, printed in Austin Texas and another one similar was found in the Evening World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska).
Trivia Fact: Emmet L Cox was the father of Norma Staver, a Bridgeport School teacher.
Research by M Wagner and J King
