Clio Logo
This is a contributing entry for A Tour Of Historic Cedarburg and only appears as part of that tour.Learn More.

Another note to take while analyzing this building. This version of the building is not the original Blacksmith shop that you see currently. This building is a replica of the building that was built in 1848, as it will be explained in the brief description of the original shop that was established.


A Blacksmith Shop In The 19th Century.

Photograph, Wheel, People, Motor vehicle

Another Depiction Of A Blacksmith Shop In The 19th Century.

Window, Wood, Style, Monochrome

The Blacksmith Shop Would Be Converted Into A Gas Station In 1956.

Car, Building, Sky, Vehicle

The Replica Of The Original Blacksmith Shop Today.

Sky, Property, Building, Window

August Bohrtz was born in 1842 and came from Germany. August would grow up and learn precisely how to handle the skills of a Blacksmith. The building itself was established in 1848 before August, and his brother came over to the United States in the 1860s. Unfortunately, this building is the original building; it is a replica of the building set in 1848, but it gives us a pretty good idea of what it may have looked like. This replica of the building was created in 2003. August, while living in Germany, would marry his sweetheart, Johanna Margwardt, and immediately after the wedding, the couple would emigrate to the United States and initially settle in Milwaukee. He would work as a Blacksmith there in the city and operate a forgery there until 1875, when he moved his family to Cedarburg to open his forges, which became two of them.

His brother, William Bohrtz, would eventually come to the United States to work in a business partnership with his brother. They would operate the business together until 1913, when they decided to sell the building to William Krueger, another Cedarburg businessman. Over the years, the building has been used for different reasons. A gas station would take over the original building itself in 1956. Since the replica of the original building was finished, it gives solace to know that this recent replica of the original Blacksmith shop that both August and William operated still shows an iconic and historical setting here in Cedarburg as a whole. It is now used as a hair salon named Clementine Salon.  

A Walk Through Yesterday: In Cedarburg Wisconsin. 2005.

Cedarburg Biographies. Accessed May 19th 2022. http://sites.rootsweb.com/~wiozauke/biographies/Cedarburg.html.

Ozaukee County Biographies. Accessed May 19th 2022. http://sites.rootsweb.com/~wiozauke/biographies.html.

Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, Tri-Par Gas Service Station, Cedarburg, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, 13346.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://www.anvilfire.com/home/images/slideshow/g_fahrenwald/blacksmith_shop_1.htm

https://photos.com/art/blacksmith

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI13346

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI13346