Every week we publish a historic photo highlighting a story from Naperville’s past from the history archives of Naper Settlement.
Blacksmiths were critical to town life in the 19th century, so much so that town founder Joseph Naper recruited one to move to Naperville from Ohio.
Their importance stemmed from making and repairing machinery prior to the advent of mass production and factories.
In the 1880s, there were 10 blacksmith shops in Naperville, a town then of just 2,000 people.
Blacksmithing work was hot and dangerous. Forges used to heat iron could reach temperatures of 1,900 to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
When the metal turned orange or yellow, it was ready to be shaped. Red meant it was too cool, white that it was too hot.
Bellows added oxygen to the fire, which helped raised the temperature.
Much of the work of blacksmiths did involved an anvil against which the metal would be pounded, like the two seen in today’s photograph. Specialized tools allowed them to bend it into the shape needed.
A large bucket of water, called a quench bucket, was at the ready to cool the metal quickly.
Horseshoes, essential in those days, were made by a farrier who was responsible for determining the size and shape needed based on animal’s size and workload.
Because horseshoes could be reshaped in the forge to better fit the horse, many shops would employ both blacksmiths and farriers.
As factory production developed, many blacksmiths shifted their trade from manufacturing items to repair work. Or they might specialize in materials used locally, such as stone-cutting tools for towns like Naperville with quarries.
Back in 1875, blacksmiths Simon Strauss and Frank S. Goetsch started the Naperville Plow Works in 1875. The Jones Plow they manufactured, known at the time for its quality and the ease with which horses could pull them, won the Wheatland Plowing Match several times.
Their shop was on Washington Street and included a steam engine and other modern machinery.
The longtime blacksmith team of Jacob Heim and Jim Stoner was a mainstay in Naperville for 46 years starting in 1879.
Heim, born in 1852, moved to Naperville with his parents in 1854. He began blacksmithing in 1872.
Stoner was born in 1856 and educated in the Naperville schools. He started in the trade in 1875 as an apprentice of Norman Lent before partnering with Heim.
Stoner spent 53 years working as a blacksmith, but that job was just part of his life. He was a member of the Naperville school board for 12 years, spent one term as a city commissioner in the Department of Public Health and Safety, served as a volunteer firefighter and was quartermaster and later president State Militia Co. K.
The blacksmith shop he and Heim ran won rave reviews in Holland’s 1886 Business Directory.
“General blacksmithing, carriage and wagon making and repairing and horseshoeing include their scope of business, horseshoeing being their specialty.”
The review also noted that Stoner and Heim “enjoy an excellent trade and reputation.”
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Heim died in 1926 and Stoner in 1932.
Another local blacksmith was Henry J. Wohead, who operated a shop on his farm in the 1930s.
His was the last working blacksmith shop in Naperville. In 1979, the Wohead family donated his tools to Naper Settlement’s blacksmith shop.
Andrea Field is the curator of history at Naper Settlement. For more information, go to www.NaperSettlement.org.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.