Metzler’s Shoes

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Metzler Shoes started in 1924 and had been owned and/or operated by several generations of the Metzler Family until it closed in 2015.

Ralph Metzler and his brother in law Ora Smucker, invested together to open the shoe store at 111 S. Main Street in the old First National Bank. Ralph’s son Bill and his first cousin Wendall Metzler were the second generation to run the store. Diana Davis and her brother Dan Metzler were the third generation of Metzlers to run the store.

In 2008, they sold the business to Yoder’s Department Store in Shipshewana. In 2015, Metzler’s Shoes closed their door.

The Metzlers were descendants of one of the first settlers and founders of Nappanee, Daniel Metzler. He was known to of had a broom and shoe store on the corner and had made his own brooms and shoes.