Cooperstown's merry cobbler, E.C. Ward came in September of 1883 setting up his shoe shop in Whidden's Store. Other early shoemakers were H.L. Walen, Charles Hall and M. Simenson. The shoe shops were set up in barbershops, hotels and various business houses where a small nook was available to rent.
October of 1894, H. "Shoe" Hanson of Mayville opened up his shoe shop in the old Independent building. He moved his business and sometimes his buildings to several different places through the years. The later years he had his shoe shop in the old Perchert building (59-18) Hanson retired in 1940 when he sold out his stock to Nels Sandvik located a few doors west.
Rasmus Wagle came to Cooperstown about 1908 first working as a carpenter and later had a job at Stringer's Harness Shop. Wagle opened his shoe repair shop in 1909 and remained in that small shop until 1938. He was located in Block 74 the north half of Lot 24, on the present location of the Coachman Inn. Wagle had learned the shoe repair business in Norway and did all work by hand. The shop building was later occupied by Olson's Restaurant and Orpha's Cafe.
Nels Sandvik first came to Cooperstown in 1931 when he worked for Stringer's Harness Shop. He left Cooperstown in 1935, returning in 1937. He operated a shoe repair at Stringer's for about two years. In 1939 he moved across the street to a small building (59-15) formerly occupied by John Berg's Farm, Cattle and Business Office. Sandvik bought out the stock of H. Hanson in 1940 and remained in that same small building on Burrell until about 1967 when he moved the building to his residential lot in the northwest part of Cooperstown. There he operated his shoe repair business until his death in 1972.
Source: Cooperstown, North Dakota 1882-1982 Centennial Page 202