Published: August 02, 2008 11:11 pm            

Chicago-based blacksmith company plans to set up shop in city

Inside a nondescript brick building on a section of Johnstown’s Iron Street that doesn’t even appear on many maps, crews have spent years painstakingly restoring a relic of the city’s industrial heritage.

Their work is about to pay off.

A Chicago businessman is finalizing a deal with Johnstown Redevelopment Authority to turn the former Cambria Iron Co. blacksmith shop – which dates to the Civil War – into a working smithy.

The business would create a handful of jobs and breathe new life into a nationally registered historic structure that was nearly demolished in the 1990s.

“It’s an opportunity for visitors to come in here and see what a working blacksmith shop looks like,” said Debbie Walter, a redevelopment authority official.

Thomas Martin, who owns Antares Iron & Copper Inc., has made a name for himself as a “high-end” blacksmith in the Chicago area. But he originally is from McKees Rocks near Pittsburgh.

“For me, it’s kind of a homecoming to Pennsylvania,” Martin said of his interest in the Johnstown blacksmith shop.

While he hasn’t entered into a final lease agreement with the redevelopment authority, Martin has purchased a house in the city’s Moxham neighborhood.

He plans to maintain his Chicago business.

“Most of our work has been premium-market residential installations,” Martin said.

The Johnstown location, which would produce under the name Cambria Architectural Metalworkers, would focus on residential work as well as “specialty commercial” products, Martin said.

When production begins will depend in part on when renovations are finished at the blacksmith shop.

The facility, which employed 100 at its peak, turned out equipment and tools for the famed Cambria Iron Co., once the top rail producer in the nation.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. bought the Cambria Iron plant in the 1920s and operated it until 1992.

Bethlehem then began to demolish some of the complex, but local officials and preservationists intervened. Several structures, including the blacksmith shop, were donated to the redevelopment authority in 2001.

Other portions of the former “Lower Works” site now house businesses such as JWF Industries, Quality Refinishing, and Samuel, Son & Co.

But officials had a somewhat different plan for the blacksmith shop, which has been renovated at an estimated cost of $1.5 million.

A variety of experts, including a National Park Service masonry expert and a wood pathologist, have helped to preserve the original structure. At the same time, contractors have removed hazardous materials and poured new concrete floors.

The authority recently received two grants totaling $515,500 to fund the ongoing project.

Many pieces of heavy-duty equipment remain inside the shop, including a 10,000-pound steam hammer which has been donated to the Smithsonian Institution but is leased by the redevelopment authority.

Martin said some of the old machinery will be a part of his operation, although the Smithsonian’s steam hammer will not be used in any production.

“Most of the day-to-day practical work would be handled on other equipment that will be brought in,” he said.

Martin said plans to employ a minimum of 12 to 15 people at the Johnstown shop. Production there may not begin until late next year or in 2010.

“All of these projects require a lot of lead time,” he said.

        

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