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Craftsmen

Blacksmiths, tinsmiths, and brick-makers possessed skills helpful for survival when Euro-American began to settle this area. If the materials they needed to practice their crafts were not available locally, it was expensive but necessary to transport them by boat to Pekin, and then by wagon to Blooming Grove.

Featuring:

William Richard Goodheart, (1770 – 1842), brickmaker
Lewis Bunn, (1806 – 1886), Blacksmith
George Dietrich, (1816 – 1900), Tinsmith

Scottish immigrant William Richard Goodheart (1770-1842) arrived in Blooming Grove in 1825. He built his family a log home using resources from the land.

Log homes required a fireplace for heating and cooking. Those living on the frontier used the materials available to them (rocks, clay, logs, and sticks) to construct the chimneys for their homes. But William did it differently.

Using clay from his farm, William manufactured the first bricks in McLean County and used these bricks to construct the chimney of his new home.

William’s neighbors soon asked him to make more bricks, which they purchased to build brick chimneys for their homes.

illustration of a log cabin

Log home illustration.

illustration of a log cabin

Handmade Bloomington brick, circa 1833

Two bricks, slightly misshapen, one sitting on top of the other

Donated by: Milo Custer
775.199

Two bricks, slightly misshapen, one sitting on top of the other

Ohio native Lewis Bunn (1806–1886) was Bloomington’s first trained blacksmith, having moved to Bloomington in 1833.

The iron Lewis needed to make horseshoes and plows was not available on the frontier, so he ordered iron from St. Louis to be shipped by flatboat to Pekin via the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

illustration of a large flat wooden boat being pushed by long oars by moonlight.

Lewis paid 75 cents (equal to $21.92 in 2020) to ship each pound of iron he ordered, in addition to the cost of the iron. The iron was transported as far as Pekin, where he loaded it in his wagon for the trip back to Blooming Grove.

illustration of a large flat wooden boat being pushed by long oars by moonlight.

With supplies ready and his forge set up, Lewis heated, hammered, and shaped the metal into iron plows, hoes, and other agricultural implements. He made horseshoes, mended broken tools, and fashioned hooks, hinges, and other metal hardware, which he sold to other settlers.

Demand for Lewis’ work was high as his closest competition was 40 miles away. He named his price, charging $11 to $12 for a plow. When a second blacksmith, Oliver Ellsworth, arrived in 1836, Lewis had to offer competitive prices or risk going out of business.

But competition was not Lewis’ only challenge. When an 1837 financial crisis reduced the amount of cash on the frontier, many customers could not repay the credit he had given them, and he lost money.

At that time Lewis stopped giving customers credit and reduced his prices.

Bloomington Observer advertisement, January 13, 1838

George Dietrich (1816-1900) came to McLean County in 1839, having trained as a tinsmith in New Jersey.

When he arrived he found no competition, just a failed business from which he bought additional tools and supplies. He was soon at work hand-fabricating needed household items like buckets, lanterns, candle molds, and candle holders, for which there was a growing demand.

Bloomington Weekly Pantagraph advertisement, December 11, 1849

Man wearing an apron stands inside a workshop surrounded by tools and work surfaces

Dietrich’s shop would have looked much like this tinsmith shop at Old Sturbridge Village, a living history site in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.

Samantha Decker
Man wearing an apron stands inside a workshop surrounded by tools and work surfaces

Dietrich used tools, like hand forged shears and a soldering iron, to make tin grease lamps and candle molds in his shop.

Dietrich’s records show he traded his products for meat, buggy and sleigh rides, home repair, wood flooring, and firewood. 

More tinsmiths arrived with the railroad. In 1855 there were four other tinsmiths in town. In 1857 Dietrich sold his business and left town.

Hand forged tin shears, circa 1860

iron metal scissors with small rounded tip blades and long handles.

Donated by: Cecil Herman
725.168

iron metal scissors with small rounded tip blades and long handles.

Soldering iron, circa 1860

long thin metal point with wooden handle

Heated in a forge, soldering irons were used to melt the solder used to seal any seams.

Donated by: William Todtz
915.531

long thin metal point with wooden handle

Tin grease lamp, circa 1850

Candles and grease lamps were necessary for providing light.

Donated by: George and Helda Deems
723.125

Tin candle mold, circa 1850

Many people made their own candles using a candle mold, like this one.

Donated by: Gertrude Crum Jones
793.691

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