A Hodge Podge of "Favorites"

A few miles south of the Red River and the Texas-Oklahoma border is a little town called Nocona. It was named after a Commanche Chief Peta Nocona who was the father of Quanah Parker. Quanah is often called the last great Commanche Chief. His mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, was an anglo who was taken as a young girl after an attack on Fort Parker near present day Mexia, TX. She was later recaptured, after living many years as a Commanche, at the Battle of Pease River when her husband was reported to have been killed.

A few years later, Nocona was in the path of the one of the great cattle trails from south and central Texas all the way up into Kansas and Nebraska where cattle would be loaded on trains to be shipped to places like Chicago. A man named H.J. Justin set up a boot-making business along the trail in nearby Spanish Fort. As cowboys would come up the trail, he would size them for boots and after they had delivered their cattle and received their pay, they would pick up their new boots on the back into Texas. He was the founder of Justin Boots. Justin Boots later grew as a boot-maker in Nocona. While it is no longer there, it is still in business over 100 years later.

However, hand-crafted leatherwork is a retained legacy of the town of Nocona in the company of Nokona (Yes. The spelling is different.) Nokona is the only baseball glove manufacturer remaining in the United States today. The photo is of workers at Nokona making baseball gloves used by Little Leaguers and professionals alike. They have a wonderful little museum and you can tour the factory and try on gloves in various stages of their construction.

The town of Nocona has a classic car museum and a wonderful museum called Tales ‘N’ Trails Museum. This place is worth a visit.

I love baseball, history, musuems, small towns, and travelling. That’s why this photo represents a hodge podge of favorites.