This undated photograph from the Naperville Heritage Society collection shows Levy Gushard, looking not unlike Geppetto from Disney’s “Pinocchio,” plying his trade as a cobbler.
The description on the back reads: “Levy Gushard, old Naperville shoemaker — located in the Kendig Bldg. opposite the Post Office on Jefferson Ave. — Levy held open house daily for old pals and GAR veterans who enjoyed his fireside.”
The Kendig building was a three-story former hotel at 15 W. Jefferson Ave., with stores on the first floor and a family home and a photography studio on the upper floors. Its demise came in 1927 when Carl Broeker tore the building down and replaced it with a new structure for his store, Carl Broeker and Co. Today it’s occupied by the Front Street Cantina.
It’s possible Gushard’s first should have been spelled “Levi,” as several online historical documents have it spelled that way as does a photo of a Naperville Cemetery gravemarker for a man of that name who lived from 1846 to 1915.
