Marshville Heritage Society's Heritage preservation

It can well be argued that the most important individual craftsman in an rural community was the local blacksmith, the name give to the man who worked with iron. He mad teeth for the harrows, the iron shares for the wooden ploughs, the hinges for the doors - anything made of iron.

General blacksmithing grew into two specialties: the farrier, who took care of the feet of horses and oxen, making and fitting the metal shoes needed; and the wagon makers, who made the metal parts of vehicles of all kinds and made and fitted the iron rims.

As factory systems took over the manufacture of farm implements, the blacksmith moved to the factory floor. The farrier remained, along with the wheel fitters, so the term blacksmith began to be limited to those two those two main functions in the village.

Still the blacksmith was relied on to re-point harrow teeth and ploughshares, weld broken part of implements and even make custom items like reinforcing rings for silos.

The coming of the tractor to replace the horse and rubber tires to replace iron wagon rims spelled the end of the ancient village craft.

HISTORY

David Jones was the first wagon maker to set up shop in the village of Marshville (Wainfleet). His shop was constructed in 1865. Charles Fretz took over this business when Jones retired. Fretz purchased his lumber from the Dean Sawmill. This building was slated for demolition after the new Minor Feed Mill was constructed. It was donated to the society by the Minor family and was moved to the Marshville Heritage Village site in 1990, where it was restored in the summer of 1991.

The Palcso Blacksmith Shop stood for many years along the Feeder Canal just east of the highway crossing in the Village of Wainfleet. The blacksmith's equipment was donated to the Society in 1988 by the Palcso family. John Palcso was the last blacksmith in Wainfleet.

The blacksmith's equipment was originally located in the Dean Sawmill and then relocated to the first floor of the wagon maker’s shop. This building is now known as the Jones-Palcso Wagonmaker and Blacksmith Shop.

The second and third generations of this family now demonstrate smithing at the Marshville Heritage Festival.

The Village Blacksmith

It can well be argued that the most important individual craftsman in any rural community was the local blacksmith, the name given to the man who worked with iron. In pioneer days, it was he who made the teeth for the harrows, the iron shares for the wooden ploughs, the hinges for the doors - in fact anything made of iron.

From this, general blacksmithing grew into two specialties: the farrier who took care of the feet of horses and oxen, making and fitting the metal shoes needed; and the wagon makers who made the metal parts of vehicles of all kinds and made and fitted the iron rims.

As the factory system took over the manufacture of farm implements, the blacksmith moved onto the factory floor. The farriers remained along with the wheel fitters, so that the term “blacksmith” began to be limited to just those two main functions in the village. Vestiges of the earlier all-round ironworking skills were retained, however, as the blacksmith was still called upon to re-point harrow teeth and ploughshares, weld broken parts of implements and even make custom items like reinforcing rings for silos.

The coming of the tractor to replace the horse and rubber tires to replace iron wagon rims spelled the end of this ancient village craft, which has so long and honorable a history and is so well known in song and story - the “village blacksmith” is no more.