Vintage shoe store fluoroscope machine with wooden cabinet and viewing ports.
The showroom marvel: a fluoroscope kids crowded around between shoe fittings.
Ferguson wasn’t just gas wars and matinees. It was a town of little shops where the owners knew your name. My favorite was Seymour’s Shoe Store.
Seymour was a character—quick with a smile and somehow always knowing your size before you sat down. But the real draw for us kids wasn’t the shoes. It was the machine.
Right there on the showroom floor sat a fluoroscope: a wooden cabinet with three viewing ports. You’d slide your foot inside, peer through the lens, and see the bones of your toes glowing green inside your Buster Browns. We thought it was pure science fiction. While the adults talked leather and laces, we were mesmerized by our skeleton feet dancing on the screen.
Nobody thought twice about it back then. We didn’t know the machine was shooting X‑rays through us; we only knew Seymour’s place was fun and that buying shoes felt like stepping into the future. Looking back, it’s a wonder half of us didn’t glow in the dark—but that was the era and the charm of small‑town life.
Seymour’s Shoes was part of the Ferguson circuit: gas wars on Florissant Road, a 14¢ matinee at the Savoy, and a stop at Seymour’s to watch your feet turn into a Halloween trick on a Tuesday. It’s a memory that still makes me smile—one part wonder, one part nostalgia, and all Ferguson.
Related
Gas Wars & the Savoy — pennies at the pump and a 14¢ matinee.
The Penhale Family in Casts — Ferguson’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not moment.
Memoir Hub — more stories & vignettes.