Below is a excerpt on the now-defunct Armadillo Basket Factory, per a blog posted on
Wordpress... the blog includes some great historic pictures as well:
"Charles Apelt, a German immigrant who came to this country in the late 1800s, [... With a] background in wicker furniture-making and basketry, combined with an unexpected new-world experience, [he] launched a unique and remarkable Texas business.
""One day, while walking about his farm, a strange little animal sprang up and began to hop away. Mr. Apelt picked up a stone and with excellent aim hit the animal’s head. Otherwise, the plated armor would have turned the missile aside, like the armor on a battleship.
When he gathered up his game he surveyed it with wonder. When he went out to tack that hide to the barn in some sort of fashion, the hot sun had dried it until it began to curl up. He picked it up and instinctively he said, “Basket.” Then he fastened the end of the tail to the head and made a handle… As it dried he shaped it with his hand, and lo, the first armadillo shell basket that the world ever knew became a reality.""
After perfecting a way to preserve the hides, Apelt opened his factory in 1898 and sold 40,000 baskets in the first six years. Plain baskets started at $2.50, while fancier versions sold for $4 and up.
Human creativity being what it is, the Apelts soon began innovating. Customers could purchase fringed or unfringed floor lamps, table lamps, bed lamps and wall fixtures – all made from armadillo shells. As production peaked in the 1920s, fifty hunters were employed to supply the critters, and at least a cook or two was hired to turn all that meat into barbeque.
As demand for their novelty grew, the Apelts supplemented the supply of armadillos provided by hunters by actually “farming” the creatures in an elaborate series of concrete burrows and tunnels built into their front yard. Not all became baskets — many were sold to zoos, medical research facilities and private individuals seeking an unusual pet.
The family owned the business for seven decades. After Charles’ death, his second wife Martha took it over until her death. When daughter Ruth Dowdy assumed control in 1947, the operation was moved to Salado, Texas, but it returned to Comfort in 1951,
At that point, Apelt’s daughter-in law Kathryn took over, continuing the traditions of the farm and producing the same baskets and shades that had made it famous, shipping them to shops and individual customers world-wide."