Lamont, Michigan, Blacksmith Shop, Livery Stable and Gunsmith Shop Lamont Blacksmith Shop   The Lamont Blacksmith Shop was located on 48th Street near Leonard Street on the Lamont Halfway House property called the DeWitt-Dudley Reserve. The blacksmith was an important man in the village. A blacksmith was needed to shoe horses and to make all the small iron pieces for bridles and harnesses. He could fix a broken wagon wheel and make nails and an assortment of tools. To shape the iron into its desired product, the blacksmith had to heat the metal until it became soft. To heat the metal, the blacksmith shop had a room with a large fireplace and chimney called a forge. Near the forge was the bellows, an accordion like instrument that draws air in through a valve and expels it through a tube which serves as air supply for the fire. Charcoal was used for the fire because it burned at a higher temperature and was smokeless. Near the forge were the tools that the blacksmith used and also a large barrel of water used to cool the hot metal. In the center of the shop the blacksmith kept an anvil, a heavy iron block weighing up to 250 pounds on which the blacksmith hammered out the various bends and angles to a piece of soft iron. Often iron pieces were so large and heavy, such as wagon axles or wheels, that the blacksmith needed an adult helper in the shop. Coopersville Observer, September 21, 1900--Our village blacksmith, D. Kramer, accompanied his wife to Grand Rapids last Saturday. Ottawa County People by Boersma Transcribed and photo by Joan Van Spronsen   Horse and Buggy Days by Paul Detlefsen Blacksmith Shop This lithograph shows a man shoeing a horse with a boy watching nearby. A man is in the blacksmith shop working on a piece of metal on the anvil. The fire is glowing and a barrel of water to cool the hot metal is nearby. The blacksmith shop sign is on the building. During the early days of Lamont, the Lamont Blacksmith Shop looked a lot like this picture. Sign on the Lamont Blacksmith Shop building 2013   Lithograph scanned and photo by Joan Van Spronsen   Lamont Livery Stable The Lamont Livery Stable was located on 48th Street near Leonard Street in Lamont, Michigan, on the DeWitt-Dudley Reserve. The livery stable is connected to the blacksmith shop building. The livery stable was a hotel for horses where the animals would be given food and water and lodging. The stagecoach driver could keep a change of horses at the livery stable. Visitors could leave their horses at the livery stable when they were in town. Buggies and wagons and sleighs could be rented as well as horses. Men often gathered at the livery stable to talk. 1865 IRS Tax Assessment List, Lamont Livery Stable--Samuel G. Porter 1866 IRS Tax Assessment List- Lamont Livery Stable-Samuel G. Porter 1866 IRS Tax Assessment List, stage receipts-Samuel G. Porter, stagecoach operator Coopersville Observer, May 11, 1892--Mr. Stoddard bought an interest in the Lamont Livery Stable. Tallmadge Township and Lamont by Henry and Loekie Boersma. Lamont Gunsmith Shop The gunsmith shop of Henry Rogers (Rodgers), Sr. and Henry Rogers, Jr. was probably located in the blacksmith shop building. Coopersville Observer, November 10, 1939-- "They had a small shop where they worked patiently, concerned with quality rather than quantity. One gun every three days continued to be the output, a granddaughter, Mrs. Maud Weil, recalls. The men took the utmost pains with their guns and some were mounted with pearl. During the Civil War business was active and the Rogers' guns were carried by many a Civil War veteran." Coopersville Observer Obituaries by Boersma. Transcribed and photo by Joan Van Spronsen