Our Past Is Present September 26, 2018

September 26, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            If you haven’t visited our Museum lately, please stop by and visit the blacksmith display in the “Main Street” gallery.  There are handcuffs, anvils, horseshoes and other items typically found in a blacksmith’s shop. Well... today’s story comes from an article titled “Local Blacksmiths Have Close Tie To JC’s History”. 

            Among the largest and most prosperous of early Junction City blacksmiths was that of C.P. Fogelstrom.  We have mentioned him in previous programs.  His shop was that of a blacksmith and wagon shop, which was located where the post office is today.  He established his shop in 1873. That business continued in operation until the 1940s when it became an auto supply business operated by his sons.  In 1903, it was the Fogelstrom family who provided the city property on which to build a high school.  That property and the building is now the Geary County Historical Society’s Museum. 

            The Degitz Blacksmith Shop, which was located in the 100 block of East Sixth Street, was the oldest and the last in town.  It closed its doors in 1967.  It was the effort to save the building from demolition that motivated the founding of the Historical Society in 1972.  Finally, it was the son of a local blacksmith, Fred Bramlage, who purchased the historic limestone high school building in 1982 and donated it to the society as a home for the Museum.

            A blacksmith shop was critical in a society dependent upon horses and wagons at the turn of the 20^th century was no exception.  Between 1888 and 1916, there were at least 18 blacksmith shops in Junction City.  In 1905, there were still seven listed in the City Directory and by 1910 the number had lessened to five and some had already begun to convert to machine shops or garages.

            The artifacts in our Blacksmith’s display at the Museum include various wheels, anvils, handcuffs, horseshoes and tools used by a blacksmith.  Please drop by the Museum to see this and the other displays at our Museum located at the corner of Sixth and Adams Streets. Our hours are 1-4:00 Tuesdays through Sundays.   There are many interesting pieces and stories to go with them.  We’re sure when you visit you will learn why we say “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.