Mother Goose has a rhyme about a woman, a shoe and many children, and the Museum of Wildlife, Science and Industry's "SHOE HOUSE" resembles the shoe home described in the nursery rhyme. It doesn't house any children, but it does house the extensive shoe collection of Mildred Fiksdal O'Neill of Webster. The Shoe House is a large two story shoe-shaped structure that houses over 9000 shoes including shoe related items. Shoes range is size from tiny ones for infant's pierced ears to her father's Alaskan snow shoes. They are displayed primarily by topic:
There is a library with books, videos, scrapbooks of shoe greeting cards and articles. Two shoes were used by the USA Postal service for black history month poster to be used in every post office in the United States. Mildred Fiksdal O'Neill started collecting when she was in High School in 1940. Shoes were often messages during WWII. One letter came completely cut apart by the sensors, yet a pair of tiny shoes came through marked "Dark Africa." A mocassin with sensored letter , marked "Yuma, Arizona." We know our soldier was in desert training.
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