Building date: c. 1834, demolished c. 1950.
Original use: Blacksmith Shop
Corner structures:
Mortar application and content:
Types and uses of stones:
Types and choice of windows:
Structures with similar masonry details:
Masons who worked on building:
Unique features:
Map views courtesy Google Maps. Address is Google Earth confirmed; 43°11'32.87"N 78°03'54.97"W. Location marked on property map.
Town of Clarendon and Orleans County Maps
The Blacksmith Shop is mentioned in David Sturges, "History of Clarendon", 1810-1888 published in 1889, on page 15:
"Early in the month of March, 1811, Judge Eldredge Farwell, with his wife and six children, Susanna, William, Mary Ann, George W., Harry and Eldredge, made their way through the woods, from the Ridge road, marking the trees as they passed, and, at the point where the creek crosses the highway, near William Stuckey's, floated their goods as best they could across the swollen waters, and camped for the night under a large beech-tree, where now Orson Cook resides, on Brockport street. The whole country was one vast wilderness, and the judge, as he was afterward called, began the erection of his first log dwelling, where now the stone blacksmith-shop of Marvin Braman gives forth its anvil music." Melissa Ierlan, Clarendon Historical Society
The Clarendon Blacksmith Shop, built about 1834, stood in the hamlet of Clarendon on these side of Holley-Byron Road opposite Church Street. During the 1880's, it was run by Marvin Braeman and at the time this photo was taken Ralph Bowen was the smithy. The shop was torn down in the 1950's by Tracey Smith and only the vacant lot remains. "Chapter III Cobblestone Buildings", by Delia Robinson, "Architecture Destroyed in Orleans County, New York", by C. W. Lattin, Orleans County Historian, November 1984. Published by the Cobblestone Society.
"Cobblestone Buildings of Orleans County, N. Y.", A Local History, page 24, by Delia Robinson, Edited by Evelyn Lyman and William Nestle. Jointly published by The Cobblestone Society and The Orleans County Historical Association, December 1996.
 1860 Niagara Orleans Counties Cla-3 Excerpt Map.jpg ¹ |  Clarendon Blacksmith Shop.jpg ² Picture postcard |
¹ 1860 Niagara Orleans Counties Map excerpt courtesy Library of Congress.
² Image courtesy Melissa Ierlan, Clarendon Historical Society. The mill in the background of the picture postcard was demolished about 1960.
