Teds Shoes

Contributing Author: Robert Sievert

Around 1970, my dad took me to Ted’s Shoes to get me a new pair of shoes. I got the clodhoppers (tan colored boots that went up a bit past your ankle, like work boots). We came out and there was this sawhorse barricade. I wanted to show my dad that I could jump it, and so I did!

I landed on the other side; it was wet cement. My dad was so angry because of the brand new shoes. The guy that was there working on the cement was angry too!

The South Side of 100 block of East Court Street, looking southwest, probably late 1950s. Businesses visible are Ted’s Shoes, Capp’s Paint Store, Roy Shapiro Men’s Wear, and (on the second floor of right-most building) the Kankakee Moose Lodge. All buildings were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s (photo from the Kankakee County Museum archives).