JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Since 2018, the Center For Metal Arts has revived the art of metalworking inside historic Cambria Iron shops – as well as three historic blacksmith hammers forged during Johnstown’s industrial heyday.
Now, the blacksmith school is turning its attention to rejuvenating the historic Cambria Iron shops themselves – an $18 million plan that would expand its hands-on workspace and add a gallery and a retail shop, Center for Metal Arts Director Patrick Quinn said.
It’s an undertaking that has the Center for Metal Arts looking to strike a deal to acquire the Lower Works structures currently used for classes – something Johnstown Redevelopment Authority officials signaled Tuesday they’re open to.
For generations, the Lower Works and its Blacksmith Shop were central cogs for Cambria Iron and, later, Bethlehem Steel.
But those spacious industrial buildings sat vacant and deteriorating for years, until Quinn met with then-Johnstown Area Heritage Association Director Richard Burkert and other Johnstown leaders a decade ago about relocating his school from New York.
The Center for Metal Arts debuted in early 2018 and has grown since, offering forging workshops and extended courses for people looking to improve in the craft, open blacksmith businesses or teach in the field.
Through $200,000 in work, the center followed through on its goal to revive three long-dormant air hammers – among them, an 1880s-era, 4,000-pound hammer – that Quinn said positioned the school as the only one of its kind shaping blacksmithing’s future through industrial- grade artifacts from its past.
Students from as far away as Europe and New Zealand have spent weeks in Johnstown learning on the 19th-century tools, Quinn said.
Reposted with permission
Photos by The Tribune Democrat
