Objectives

Site Summary

Matthew Edel and Family

Matthew Edel was born in 1856 in Stuttgart, Germany. He and his family (his parents and siblings) emigrated to the United States in the late 1860s or early 1870s. They originally settled in Effingham, a town in central Illinois. Matthew moved to the Iowa City area in 1881 or early 1882. There he met the woman who became his wife, Mary Hofman.

Married in April of 1883, Matthew and Mary had eight children: Joseph (1885-1945), Anton (1887-1959), Mary (1898-1977), John (1891-1961), Martin (1895-1916), Albert (1896-1949), Louis (1899-1978), and Leo (1902-1996). Louis was the son most involved with the blacksmith shop, and operated the adjacent car repair garage which closed in 1952.

It is unclear where Matthew learned the blacksmith trade. One possibility is that he was trained in Germany before moving to the United States. Depending on the date of emigration, Matthew would have been too young to have fully completed his apprenticeship (training). In Germany, blacksmiths were highly trained specialists, often with artistic skills.

Blacksmithing

A blacksmith is a person who makes objects, such as tools, out of iron. The process used is called forging. In this process, the blacksmith places a piece of iron into a very hot coal fire (built in a forge). The heat causes the metal to become pliable which allows the blacksmith to pound the heated part against an anvil into the desired shape. The heating and shaping process is repeated until the item is complete. The main tools of the blacksmith are anvils, tongs, and hammers. The tongs are necessary to hold the red-hot (literally) metal and hammers are used to shape the metal. Hammering is not only a way to change the shape of the metal, but is also a way to attach other pieces of metal.

Blacksmithing is an ancient profession. Many cultures have mythical figures, such as the Norse god Thor, who were blacksmiths. Blacksmithing is more than forging iron products. Many blacksmiths doubled as farriers (fair-ee-ers), people who shoe horses, mules, and oxen. In addition to making useful tools, some blacksmiths also make decorative pieces, such as fancy candle holders and iron gates.

Today, there is an increasing demand for trained blacksmiths. A blacksmith was necessary for the renovation of the Statue of Liberty. Because there were no drawings or charts listing the sizes of support pieces, a blacksmith was necessary on site to make items as they were needed.

The Blacksmith Shop

Matthew bought the property in Haverhill for the shop in 1883, while living in Iowa City. He moved to Haverhill in February of 1883, and set up shop in the one and one-half story building already built on the property. He used the first floor of the building as his shop. His family lived on the second floor for several years until they built the house in the early 1890s.

In the late 19th century, nearly every small town in Iowa had a blacksmith shop. This was because most people depended on horsepower. Blacksmiths were needed to shoe horses, to repair wagons, and to sharpen and repair farm machinery such as plows. Thus, Matthew's shop included areas for each of these activities. On one side of the shop, he had a place to tether horses so that he could shoe them. Overhead, Matthew kept pre-prepared horseshoes for a large number of farmers in the area. The woodworking section has a raised wood floor, saws, and a partially assembled wheel on display. Throughout the shop are tools he used to repair and sharpen other farm equipment.

Matthew, like many other blacksmiths, made many of his own tools. It was very common for blacksmiths to make a tool they needed out of scraps lying around their shops. Examples of these tools are spread through the shop along with tools made in factories. In some of the self-manufactured tools, traces of what they were originally can still be seen. For example, Matthew made a band saw that wraps around two wagon wheels in the wood working section.

The shop appears very much the same as Matthew left it when he died in 1940. The layout and seeming clutter of the shop reflects what he thought was the most efficient way to work. Unlike most other surviving blacksmith shops the Edel Blacksmith Shop is not a reconstruction.

Adjacent to the blacksmith shop is Louis Edel's automobile repair garage. The garage was constructed as a way to expand the business by including car repair. Unlike the shop, no artifacts remain from when it was in use. Matthew and Louis built the garage during World War I. Louis closed it in 1952.

Matthew Edel: The Businessman

Matthew Edel was an innovative inventor as well as a blacksmith. In 1881, he patented a wire grain harvester. This invention, however, was not a success. The same year, a twine grain harvester, was manufactured by Deering Marsh, and proved to be more successful.

After the harvester, Matthew's inventions were smaller and easier to produce in his shop. The tools he invented and patented were intended to make tasks easier. The Perfection De-Horning Clipper and the Perfection Wedge Cutter are two examples of this. Fliers printed to sell these items spoke of how simple they were to use and how smart Matthew was to design such tools.

In addition to being an inventor, Matthew was also an artist. Besides manufacturing tools and doing the other normal duties of a rural blacksmith, he also made iron cemetery crosses. These crosses attest to his ability and skill as a blacksmith. Examples of these crosses remain in the shop and can be seen in the local cemetery one block east.

Life in Turn-of-the-Century, Rural Iowa

As the Edel family grew, it became necessary to build a house. The house, which is still standing, was built in the early 1890s. It is a typical house with five rooms downstairs (parlor, dining room, bedroom, kitchen, and pantry) and four rooms upstairs. The basement was used as a storage area for canned goods, garden produce, and homemade wine and beer. In the winter, the Edel family used coal stoves in the parlor and kitchen to heat the house. They added electricity after 1912, but never indoor plumbing. In place of indoor toilets, they family used the "two-holer" outhouse to the west of the house.

Another structure on the site is the "summer kitchen." This building was probably built about the same time as the house. Summer kitchens were common structures in the late 19th century. They served a variety of purposes. In the summer months, all the cooking and baking, as well as the laundry, was done there. This was to keep the house cooler. The summer kitchen was also where all the canning and the preserving of the garden produce was done.

When the Edels built their house, families had to provide their own food. The option of buying dinner at a grocery store or restaurant did not exist, especially in rural areas. This meant that families had to have large gardens and their own livestock. The Edel family grew potatoes and other garden vegetables. They also had cherry trees, walnut trees, apple trees, and grape vines in the yard. They raised chickens and probably a cow.

In addition to producing their own food, rural families had to make their own clothing, soap, and tools. Being self-sufficient required a lot of work. Children were required to help out around the house and yard. The Edel children weeded and helped with pest control in the gardens. Matthew liked to call this "earning their keep." The only daughter, Mary, learned to cook and sew, and took over these tasks for the family when her mother died in 1915.

The Edel family was very talented musically. Each member played an instrument: clarinet, violin, trombone, piano; enough instruments to form their own small band. Often, the family was asked to play together at community dances.

The Town of Haverhill

When the Edels lived in Haverhill, it was a thriving town. All the community's needs were provided within walking distance. The church, school, post office, grocery, lumber company, bank, hotel, creamery, dance hall, and blacksmith shop/automobile garage served all of the community's needs. According to the 1990 Census, the population had decreased to 144. Many of the businesses in town have closed. The only remaining business are two taverns, the grain elevator, and a new post office.

Students should become familiar with these vocabulary words before visiting the Matthew Edel Blacksmith Shop.

apprentice: an individual who, through practice, is learning a skill or a craft from an expert; a type of training.

blacksmith: a person who makes tools and other items from iron, using a hot fire, tongs, an anvil, and a hammer.

emigrate: to move from one country into another.

ferrier: someone who puts horseshoes on horses.

forge: to shape iron into the desired form by a process of heating and hammering; also the place where the blacksmith builds the fire.

patent: a method of protecting an invention from being made and sold by others.