AKA: Cobbler Shop
Original Location: American Fork, Utah
Current Location: Main Street, Pioneer Village
Charles T. Baxter was born in Lowestoft, England in 1880. As a child, his family came to America and eventually settled in American Fork, Utah.
“Prior to 1900, the chief mode of transportation in Western America was walking. For a pedestrian nation a community cobbler was vital.
It was not uncommon for youngsters to go barefoot in the summer, saving boots and shoes for colder days.
Although Charles Baxter was a Cobbler in the late 1800s and early 1900s, his repair tools and primitive leather working machines are like those of his cobbler forebearers.”
Pioneer Village guidebook
When this shop was acquired for Pioneer Village in Salt Lake City, it was located between the Dentist and the Barber Shop. At Lagoon, it can be found between the Print Shop and the Rockport Co-Op.
It’s uncertain whether the building is original or if it was constructed to house the collection, but all of the artifacts inside are from Baxter’s shop.
Little information can be found about Baxter, but it seems he wasn’t a cobbler his whole life. Information from Pioneer Village says that the shop was only used until a few years after the turn of the 20th century. His obituary states that upon retirement, he had been working as a railroad maintenance worker.
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SOURCES
Pioneer Village guidebook, 1988.
Charles T. R. Baxter obituary. The Salt Lake Tribune, 18 Aug 1960.