Blacksmith Shop and Old Abe

Blacksmiths in the pioneer days provided shoes for horses, wagon wheel rims, chains, and plows to thier communities, as well as items for the household, like latches, hinges, and wrought iron gates.

This shop is the original blacksmith shop from Tower City, North Dakota and includes all its original furnishings. It was brought to Bonanzaville in 1970. The anvil was donated in memory of Clarence Evenson from Kindred, North Dakota, who used it from 1935 to 1965. It weighs 266 pounds and the center of the face has been worn down to just 1/16th of an inch from its years of heavy use.

Outside the Blacksmith shop stands Old Abe, the Case Eagle. Old Abe was chosen by Jerome I. Case to be the trademark of his farm equipment firm in 1865, but Old Abe's story begins during the early years of the Civil War, when a real eagle named Old Abe served as a mascot for Company C of the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment. J.I. Case saw the bird in a parade in 1861 and heard the eagle scream. He never forgot the incident and chose Old Abe to represent his company. Every Case building and every piece of equipment from 1865 until the 1970's had Old Abe's image.

Our Old Abe is from the Fargo Case plant and was erected in 1911. In 1977, after a series of mergers, Old Abe was brought to Bonanzaville.