Blacksmith Shop – Lagoon History Project

Originally Built: 1858
Original Location: Cedar Fort, Utah

According to information from Pioneer Village, the Blacksmith Shop was built in 1858 to serve the needs of Johnston’s Army when they were stationed at Camp Floyd near Fairfield, Utah.

Camp Floyd was home to about 2,500 soldiers until they were called away to fight in the Civil War in 1861. The government then auctioned off anything they couldn’t transport. Whatever stones and lumber were left after that were hauled away by farmers to construct various buildings needed for their farms.

Cedar Fort would’ve been a few miles north of Camp Floyd so it’s possible that, if it was built for the army, it was built at the camp and then moved to Cedar Fort after it was abandoned. What’s certain is that Cedar Fort is where it was relocated from in the 1950s or ’60s when it joined the original Pioneer Village collection.

The Blacksmith Shop in 1962 at Pioneer Village, Salt Lake City. Photo: K. Heap

The building and artifacts arrived at Lagoon with the rest of the village in the mid-1970s. Since then, the Blacksmith Shop could be found near the former Kaysville Union Pacific station on the south end of Pioneer Village’s Main Street.

The original tools are still on display in the shop along with additional artifacts from six other blacksmith shops.

As part of the “living museum” that Pioneer Village was known to be, live demonstrations were given at different buildings during the first couple of decades or so at Lagoon. The most recent known example of this was in 1995 when local blacksmith George Simmons would be there on Saturday afternoons in the summer to show visitors how different tools were used.