Dawson Shoe Repair first opened its doors in the 1930’s. Despite the Great Depression, there were shoes that needed to be repaired and the shop was able to thrive until the 1950’s when it began running into some rough times. Enter the Wood family and current owners. Estel Wood came into the Dawson Shoe Repair Story in 1956. Estel came to Columbia from Colorado where he learned the craft of shoe repair from his father, in search of a shop he could one day own. L.D. Johnston, the owner of the shop, gave Estel a job with the agreement that the better the shop did the more Estel would own of it. From from then on, he worked hard for L.D. and in 1964 all of his hard work paid off and was given full ownership of the shop.