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PSA: I was shocked to learn how many blacksmiths worked in my small town in 1900 | Blacksmiths - nhfree.com

PSA: I was shocked to learn how many blacksmiths worked in my small town in 1900

I was looking through some old census records online for my family tree, and I got curious about local trades. I typed in my town's name and the year 1900, and searched for 'blacksmith'. The record showed 17 different smiths listed in a town of only 2,000 people. That's one smith for every 117 folks, which is way more than I ever would have guessed. It really shows how essential the trade was before cars and factories. Has anyone else dug into the history of smiths in their area and found something surprising?

3 comments

3 Comments

lindaburns6mo ago

My great-grandfather's town in Kansas had over twenty blacksmiths for just 1,500 people. Honestly, I don't see it as jobs we lost, but work that changed form. We still have all those metalworkers, they're just in auto body shops, machine shops, or making custom ironwork. The need for shaping and fixing metal never went away, it just moved into bigger buildings with different tools.

emery_miller206mo ago

Wow, that really puts things in perspective. I notice this same pattern with old phone books, where pages are just full of listings for saddle makers or milk delivery. We've condensed so many basic jobs into a few big companies now. It's wild to picture a main street with that many working forges, each one probably fixing tools for a few dozen families. Makes our current economy look totally different when you see it laid out like that.

troyh556mo ago

Yeah, right? It's crazy how many little shops we just don't need anymore. I mean, my granddad used to talk about the guy who'd come sharpen all the lawnmower blades door to door. Now you just buy a new one from a huge store. Makes you wonder what jobs we have now that'll seem just as weird in fifty years.