John Geist Blacksmith Shop Site
Introduction
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Images
The John Geist Blacksmith Shop with attached residence (image from Wikimedia)
The shop in 1979 (image from the National Register of Historic Places)
The second histori house on the John Geist property (image from the National Register of Historic Places)
Upper floor of the Blacksmith shop in 1979 (image from the National Register of Historic Places)
Upper floor of the Blacksmith shop in 1906 (image from the National Register of Historic Places)
Backstory and Context
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History of the Site
John Geist, Sr. and his wife, Wilhelmina Tennyson Geist, emigrated from Germany sometime between 1871 and 1874 [3; 4]. Geist became a Blacksmith in Nashville's Germantown, opening his own shop on Jefferson Street in a frame building in 1886. The family lived in the back of the shop until a house was built in 1891, and the frame shop was replaced with the present two-story brick building around the turn of the century, sharing a wall with the house [4]. Geist's business prospered, with the first-floor forge dedicated to wagon repair and wheel making, and the second-story forge to making horseshoes [3; 4]. In 1908, a second, larger house was built on the site, designed by local architect Christian Asmus. With its stone foundation, columnned entry porch, and pyramid roof, the 1908 house represents the Geist family's move into the middle class [4].
After Geist's sons, George and John, Jr., inherited the business in 1911, they expanded to decorative ironwork, which can be seen adorning Nashville buildings including Assumption and St. Pius X Catholic Churches [3; 4]. John Geist, Jr. taught his three sons the trade and worked with them in the shop until his death in 1976 [3]. The Geist property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, by which time the 1908 house served as shop storage and office space [4]. George and Ann Geist were the final proprietors of Nashville's oldest continuously-operating family business (primarily a lawnmower repair shop in its later years), closing the shop permanently for their retirement in 2006 [1; 3]. In 2008, it was listed on the Tennessee Preservation Trust's ten most endangered historic properties, and in 2012 on the Historic Nashville's nine most endangered properties due to neglect, deterioration, and the threat of demolition [1]. However, developers sought an adaptive reuse solution for the property, and seem to have found it, as a new restaurant, Geist, is slated to open in late 2016 in the former Blacksmith shop [2; 5].