When did belt loops become common?
Steve Prescott
Watauga, Texas
Not all historians agree on the timing.
Bob Charnes, owner of Arizona Gunfighters, a re-enactment group, has seen belt loops on baseball uniforms dating back to 1857. Even so, he admits the “belt loops never caught on with the general public at that time.” Others claim belt loops were also used, albeit rarely, on military uniforms during the Civil War.
Levi’s historian Lynn Downey says, “We first put belt

July 2010
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Wichita Whore War
- Crossed Sabres
- Why does Virgil Earp get so little credit as an Old West lawman?
- Are tumbleweeds not native to America?
- What did a cowboy do with his rifle when it was illegal to carry them into towns?
- Did cowboys really pull pack animals by holding a rope tied to their saddle horn?
- When did belt loops become common?
- How did the Mountain Men cook beaver tails?
- Stay on Target When Collecting Gun Shots
- Dreams of Gold on the Starvation Trail
- Calgary’s “Exotic” Stampede
- Joe McNeill
- Bandera, Texas
- The Digital Frontier
- Ethnic Fare
- The Functional Side of Cowboy Boots
- What’s in His Head?
- The Best BBQ Joints in Texas