Back in July, The Record had an article about the descendants of Clyde Craig visiting the historic blacksmith shop, which is now a museum run by the Romeo Historical Society.
You're probably wondering, "Who is Clyde Craig?" and "Why is he important to Romeo?" Reader, I will tell you.
Clyde Craig was a blacksmith who worked and resided in Romeo for many decades. He toiled at a time, in which blacksmithing was on its way out as a necessity, but he found a way to keep going even into old age.
Both The Romeo Observer and The Detroit News covered stories about Clyde in 1953 and 1966 respectively.
Born in Canada in 1882, Clyde perfected his craft in various places in Ontario before emigrating to Detroit to set up a business in 1911. His shop was located on the corner of Grand River and Brooklyn, and he worked at that location for 8 years. In 1919, after being displaced by developments in the automobile industry, he decided to "move closer to the source of his work and chose to come to Romeo."
One year later, Clyde opened up a blacksmith, farrier, fur-trading station, veterinarian, and wheelwright shop in that town.
Around that time, Romeo was a big farming area. Farmers would use "big and heavy muscled work horses to till their fields and harvest the crops and the demand for a blacksmith to care for their feet was great."
Unsurprisingly, this worked out for Clyde, who worked and resided in Romeo for nearly 50 years.
The photo seen here of Clyde pounding iron comes from the December 5, 1953 issue of The Romeo Observer. Ralph R. Barber wrote an entire article about him entitled, "Village Blacksmith Spends Half Century 'Pounding Iron'." In it, Barber details Clyde's backstory and the kinds of tasks that he does as a blacksmith in the twentieth century. At first, Clyde's work involved shoeing horses and caring for wagons. Overtime, it transitioned to "repairing drags, refacing stone cutter's hammers,..welding, [and]...making and designing ornamental wrought iron hardware for cabinets and doors."
Sometimes, Clyde was called to shoe a horse at the Boots and Saddles Club in Rochester. In those cases, he would drive a Model A Ford, which contained a plower and his blacksmithing tools in a rigged up portable shop.
By 1953, Clyde was one of a small number of blacksmiths in the metro Detroit area. But, by 1966, he was one of a few left in the country, and one of the very few left in Michigan according to an article written by Roy Courtade in the April 3, 1966 issue of The Detroit News Pictoral Magazine.
Clyde died in 1970. Soon after, the Romeo Historical Society moved his shop and turned it into a working blacksmith shop/museum. People can now come see it throughout the year, especially during the Christmas Home Tours, to learn about that particular trade and about the blacksmith himself.
It's through efforts like these that Clyde Craig's legacy in Romeo lives on.
To learn more about Clyde Craig, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890 and/or visit the Clyde Craig Blacksmith Museum.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer Press, December 5, 1953, p.II-1 and II-5 and The Record, July 24-30, 2024, p.7