Visiting the new blacksmith shop in 1888, Phoenix, Arizona


I found a Phoenix directory from 1888, and the ads are just wonderful. They really get me in the mood for time-traveling, so let's go visit the new blacksmith shop, which is on the corner of Center (Central) and Adams.

It's 1888, and Phoenix has really been growing since it began eighteen years ago. I hardly recognize the place. And look! A new blacksmith shop!

And let's see, according to this directory, we need to look for a Mr. A. McDonald. I suppose he'd be the one clanging on the anvil over there. But it looks like there are many men working here, it's a big shop! The ad says that they're the most competent workmen in the territory.

Let's call at the place. What? No, this is 1888, that isn't what "call" means, they don't mean on the telephone, they mean to go visit them. It's the W.J. Carrier and Company. It's OK, you're with me. What? Very funny. Should we ask for some horseshoeing? I suppose we should have a horse. I don't have one, do you? Well, I guess we can look around.

Looks like they do machine work. I'm glad that it's a cool day, that oven looks hot! Look over there, they're making a carriage, or a wagon. I'm just going to stand here and watch until they shoo us away. I don't think they would mind if we just looked around.

Maybe I'll ask for an old horseshoe to hang up for luck. Yes, I know how to hang it, loopside down to catch the luck!

Thank you for visiting the new blacksmith shop in 1888 with me!
If you like pictures of old-time Phoenix, please become a member of History Adventuring on Patreon. I share a LOT of cool old photos there, copyright-free, with no advertising. If you like Phoenix history and would like to help support my efforts to preserve and share precious digital historic images, please consider becoming a patron. Thank you!

Become a Patron!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why cars in the future won't need stop signs, red lights, or stripes on the road

Image
Time-travel with me into the future. Where we're going, we'll still need roads, but our cars won't need the kind of stuff that human drivers need, like stop signs, or stuff painted on the road. And if you're already panicking that computers will take over, don't worry, they already have. The fact that you're reading this right now combines so much amazing computing power that it would have been unthinkable to anyone in the 1960s, or '70s, when I was a kid. Speaking of being in the geriatric age group, if you're like me or older, you took a lot of pride in knowing the rules of the road, such as what to do at a stop sign if four cars approach at the same time, the difference between a "yield" sign and a "merge" sign, or maybe how to parallel park. But calm down there old-timer, that type of knowledge will just be as quaint as how to use a horse and buggy is nowadays. Sorry! The best way to picture how traffic will flow in the future is
Read more

Watching a neighborhood grow and change in Phoenix, Arizona

Image
I stopped to take a closer look yesterday at where the old Circle K had been in my neighborhood, which is a suburb of Phoenix. And it's got me to thinking about how much Phoenix grows and changes over the years, and how people feel about it. This particular neighborhood was built in the mid 1980s, when there had been only a smattering of houses and a community college (Glendale Community College, built in 1965). There are some houses that I can tell are from the 1970s, and a few even older, but what happened here is that the neighborhood suddenly appeared in 1985 or thereabouts. There are three shopping centers on the corner of 67th Avenue and Peoria - the one in the photo is called "Peoria Station", and it was designed to kinda look like a train station. The other three are called Westporte Village, Brittany Square, and Crossroads Plaza. I've lived in this neighborhood for a very long time, and no one ever uses those names, even though the signs are still up. But the
Read more

Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?

Image
As someone who has been interested in history since I was a little kid, I've always asked the most childish questions, and quite often never got an answer. As a kid, I was told to run along and play, and don't bother the grownups, so I set my questions aside to work on when I myself became a grownup. But some questions I really haven't found a satisfactory answer for, and get thrown away as I find myself learning the more important stuff. I now understand the grownups, but the kid in me still has childish questions like "Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?" The first question to ask is whether a particular style (whether hair, clothing, etc.) was in style at the time. The moustache was, and you can Google a photo of Charlie Chaplin, who wore the same style of moustache at the time, and quite stylishly. The wide lapels were in style in the 1930s, as was were the tall shirt collars and small ties. But the haircut wasn't - it's just awful. Me
Read more