Michigan’s oldest still-operating blacksmith shop destroyed in fire

HART, Michigan – Standing on the charred remains of his historic store and rummaging through the remnants of his trade, John Griswold let out a sigh.

On July 1, the Iron Angel Forge in Hart, the state’s oldest operating forge, burned almost completely to the ground. The fire started after a neighbor’s cabin caught fire, witnesses say.

“It hasn’t been a good day in a long time,” Griswold said Thursday. “I try to keep my sense of humor because these are the cards I’ve been dealt.”

The store began in 1884 as a 24-by-24-foot wooden structure. Over the years, it changed hands and the store space grew. In 1998, Griswold became the sixth person to own the store.

“It’s immortal,” Griswold said of blacksmithing. “My body doesn’t last forever. I’ve held pieces that are two thousand years old.”

“It’s a way to bring beauty into the world. You take something incredibly elemental and put it into a beautiful form,” he said.

Although Griswold makes everything from movie props to stage sets for rock ‘n’ roll bands, he got his start on his mother’s Weber grill, trying to make armor for himself and his D&D-playing, dice-throwing friends.

“I built a big fire in it, held a fan over it and pushed it down, and burned the entire floor,” Griswold said.

He has been unable to work for 11 days. However, in those 11 days, a GoFundMe campaign raised over $11,000 for reconstruction.

“I have no words to express my thanks and appreciation to the people who helped,” Griswold said.

The hardest thing for him is the loss of family history: his grandfather’s tools and pencil sketches that he gave his wife on their wedding anniversary. During the Depression, that was all they could afford.

“Every time I’m done and I wash off the ashes in the shower, I think the same thing,” Griswold said. “Is that the post that my colleague Nick used to scratch his back on like a bear? Or is that my mother’s ashes? I don’t have those anymore either.”

In the July sun, the store’s original 25-by-25-foot building – albeit damaged – still stands among the burned remains. Griswold will start there.

“Make backup copies of your family photos and don’t keep them at home,” he said. “Because one day they can all be gone. And then you’re me. Sorting through what’s left of your life.”

If you would like to support John Griswold and Iron Angel Forge, click here Here to visit their GoFundMe page.

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