Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
Historian's Corner
November 26, 2019
In the 1920’s and 1930’s, the Miles and Nemier Garage occupied the building that later became Ribstone Silo Company on Harwood Drive, Lacona.
This interior view was taken about 1930, when it was still necessary to stock many different styles of horseshoes (field work, driving, icy winter roads required various types of shoes) hung on convenient spikes along the beams of the shop.
Wagon and sleigh parts are stacked at the left, vehicle repair and building being an important part of the smith’s trade. In fact, the building was probably constructed by Fred Smart, in the 1890’s as a wagon and sleigh shop where he employed several smiths.
Mr. Smart and his brother Will designed and built a steam wagon in the late 1800’s, which was used for some time to haul lumber from Boylston saw mills to the railroad station in Lacona.
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Blacksmiths were naturally the only repairmen for the early automobiles and some of them like Miles and Nemier, gradually switched to garage work. The relatively simple structures of the first autos slowly developed into the complex vehicles of today, and self-taught mechanics, such as Schuyler Shoecraft, who purchased the Miles and Nemier business about 1938, replaced the blacksmiths as the village repairman.
The boy at the left is Clarence Stafford, the two men standing by the Model T Ford in the background are Edward Wagner and Clarence’s father, Frank Stafford. Frank Nemier is “setting” a wagon wheel tire at the anvil and his partner Bert Miles is at the drill press. At the far right is the forge area; the forge block was still in place in the 1950’s when the building was used as an auction barn.
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Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
1992 Harwood Drive
Sandy Creek, NY 13145
315-387-5456 x7
Office hours: Friday 9am to 2pm
www.sandycreeknyhistory.com
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