History (back to table)

                                                    Shoe Park East of Huron
                                                              by Roger Kasa

photo from Wanda Lee of Bella Vista, Ark., formerly of Huron.

     For many years, prior to the construction of the four-lane which now allows motorists to bypass the city, a familiar landmark on Highway 14 was the Shoe Park Built by Harry Lampe.

     Lampe, son of Charles Lampe, 1880 confectionery store owner, worked for Robinson Shoe Company for 14 years.  In 1921, he and Lawrence Zieske opened the Service Shoe Shop in the old city hall they leased at 316 Dakota Ave. S.

     The Shoe Park was part of the store's advertising package and it was located on the James River bluff east of town.  The row of signs in the shapes of boots were like a landmark welcoming motorists approaching Huron from the east on Highway 14.

     The store was located in the former city hall, which now houses Potter's Shoe Store.  (The store is still there.)

     A photograph of the Shoe Park was recently uncovered in a house purchased by Preston Funkhouser located near Tenth Street and Ohio Avenue S.W.  Mrs. Funkhouser moved to Idaho this summer and left the photograph with Wanda Lee, a former Huronian now living in Bella Vista, Ark.

   Lee and her husband, M. O., recently came to Huron to visit friends and dropped the photograph off at the Pay Day office.  She asked that it be printed in the Pay Day and then turned over to the Dakotaland Museum.