LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JULY 31, 2022 by Lynne Belluscio I found a note recently that mentioned that the wrought iron sign holder in front of LeRoy House came from Machpelah Cemetery when they no longer needed it. And that it had been made by Arthur Thompson on North Street. His blacksmith shop is pictured in the 1940 Book. Arthur’s son, Milt Thompson also worked in his father’s blacksmith shop while he was home after World War II. There is a lot of wrought iron work in LeRoy, and perhaps there are other pieces of Thompson’s work. Thompson also sharpened lawnmowers and did minor repairs. Sam Arrington also had a blacksmith shop on North Street. He was born in 1890 and worked almost 50 years in the limestone quarry. His son, Kermit, said that his father sharpened the teeth on the bucket of the huge Marion steam shovel on Gulf Road. A piece of Sam’s work, a wrought iron three-pronged fireplace fork, can be seen in the front parlor of LeRoy House. Other blacksmiths in LeRoy included Schimley & Fox at 11 Bank Street; B.F Faher and Thomas Heaman at 19 Bank Street; William Scott, located on South Street. Carmichael and Nichols were located at 18 Mill Street and Walter Parmelee had a blacksmith shop on the “flatiron” on Lake Road. Many blacksmiths called themselves “mechanics” and worked for manufactories such as LeRoy Plow Company, Upham Carriage Shop and the limestone quarries. Some blacksmiths also shoed horses and were known as ferriers. In some areas, they also shoed oxen. As a side note, oxen have cloven feet, so there are two pieces to each foot. Unlike horses, oxen will not stand on three feet to be shod, and have to be gently hoisted up in a special wooden frame so that the ferrier can trim the hooves and nail on the shoes. Today, ferriers are in big demand. Most horse shows and county fairs - such as the recent Genesee County Fair, need ferriers on site in case a horse throws a shoe. If you’ve ever been to the State Fair in Syracuse, you know that the ferrier is pretty busy. One of the ferriers in LeRoy, M.D. Halstead, was listed in the 1866 Atlas. He was located on Bank Street at the rear of the Ross Block and advertised for general shoeing and blacksmithing. According to Beers Gazetteer, there were two blacksmiths in early LeRoy, Richard Wait and Mr. Brown. It is not known how long they were in business but according to “The Genesee Country Blacksmith Tradition and Change, 17881940” by William Siles, blacksmiths often did not stay in a certain area for very long. They moved into a community with their tools and an anvil and set up a forge and began work. They made nails, hinges, pothooks, fireplace cranes, bolts, and a myriad of tools. They made and “sharpened” the points of wooden plows. Their biggest problem was getting iron. They often took old wrought iron tools and parts as payment. There is a difference between wrought iron and cast iron. Wrought iron is iron that has been heated and then worked with tools. Cast iron is iron that has been melted and then poured into a mold and allowed to solidify. (LeRoy had a foundry that made cast iron stoves. It was located on Bacon Street. The cast iron stove at LeRoy House was made at the Bacon Foundry.) Blacksmiths could repair wrought iron, but could not fix cast iron implements and tools. John Gilbert was an early blacksmith in LeRoy and he was known for making excellent axes. Gilbert Street is named for him. He had come to LeRoy from Buffalo after the British burned the city in 1813. John Gilbert was no ordinary blacksmith and he was tinkering with a rotary steam engine and filed for a patent on November 17, 1824. He went to New York City where he hoped to put his engine into production, but he contracted typhoid and died on April 6, 1825. Thomas Ladd apprenticed with Gilbert and then moved to the east side of town where he opened “his hospital for disabled and broken down vehicles.” The 1866 Atlas mentions J.B. Entrican who did custom black smithing. Beers mentions that Thomas Murnan, born in 1856, attended the LeRoy Academy and then at the age of 17 learned the blacksmith’s trade at the carriage shop of W.S. Brown on Main Street. Murnan worked for Brown for 10 years before he moved to Brockport. Technology and industrialization impacted the blacksmith. The invention of the nailmaking machine took that laborious job from the blacksmith. Kegs of nails were sold in hardware stores. Henry Burden patented a machine that made horseshoes in a variety of sizes. The ferrier only had to size the horse’s hoof, make a few adjustments to the shoe and then nail the shoe on. Another technological development that impacted the blacksmith was the advancement in the production of cast iron. Hinges, spades, plows, and ornamental iron was now made with cast iron. But because it is brittle the blacksmith could not weld or shape cast iron parts. With the change from animal horsepower to mechanical horsepower, the need for a blacksmith or ferrier became limited. Today, a blacksmith is part of the “historical trades” movement, or perhaps an arts program. Surprisingly, I know quite a few blacksmiths and several ferriers. And I know lots of people, myself included, who have had a chance to work iron on an anvil. You cannot forget the smell of the forge or the sound of the hammer on the anvil. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem. Here are a few lines: Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands.... And children coming home from school Look in at the open door; They love to see the flaming forge, And hear the bellows roar, And catch the burning sparks that fly Like chaff from a threshing-floor. Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught! Thus at the flaming forge of life Our fortunes must be wrought; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped Each burning deed and thought. Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree . . .
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