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An open house and dedication for the Bill Bally Blacksmith Shop will be held on April 30. The dedication will take place at 1 p.m. The Bill Bally Blacksmith Shop is owned and managed by the Cook County Historical Society who is hosting the event. Staff photo Brian Larsen
The Cook County Historical Society will be hosting an open house and dedication ceremony at the Bally Blacksmith Shop on Saturday, April 30 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. with a dedication held from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The shops will be open for touring, blacksmithing demonstrations will be in the yard, and we will be dedicating the blacksmith shop to the three generations of Bally blacksmiths who served Cook County from 1911-2009. Also, part of the celebration will be shared stories, polka music from Bill Bally’s collection, Bally t-shirts and food. Visitors will also have a chance to share their own stories related to the Bally shops and family.
Some history
As commercial fishing, mining and timber replaced fur trading as the main industries in Cook County, many settlers arrived in the region. The expanding communities depended on the work of skilled craftspeople and blacksmiths. The Bally Blacksmith Shop provided important services and their repair work chronicles the county’s development through several decades. At first, their work centered on horse shoeing, horse-drawn lumber camp equipment, wagon parts, utensils and tools. Soon, they shifted to motorized commercial fishing rigs, logging equipment, automobile repair and snowmobile maintenance.
The wooden shop is architecturally and historically significant as a rare, intact example of an early twentieth-century blacksmith shop – one of very few original blacksmith shops that remain in Minnesota.
Bill Bally and his wife, Karen Holte, were aware of the significance of the Bally blacksmith legacy and the historic wooden building that has been on the site for more than 100 years. In 1986, Bill worked with the Cook County Historical Society to have the Bally Blacksmith Shop placed on the National Register of Historic Places. He hoped to preserve the history of his family’s business and its role in shaping the Cook County community with their ingenuity and hard work.
In 2013, the Cook County Historical Society worked with Cook County on the purchase of the Bally Blacksmith Shop. This effort was successful with the support of many community members, Cook County, and a Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Partnership Grant from the Minnesota Historical Society. The building is currently county owned and managed by the historical society.
Many people and funders have come together to make this property and its stories accessible to the public. Extensive cleanup of the property and cataloging of collections has taken place. It is estimated that hundreds of pounds of coal dust and fine metal filings were vacuumed out of the blacksmithing building – a result of nearly 100 years of work done at this site. Stabilization and interpretative work have begun and will continue over the next few years.
Many members of the community have kindly contributed their time and talents to make the property and structures accessible. Many have also shared oral histories that have supported interpretation of the site.
More information on the Bally Blacksmith Shop can be found at: https:// www.cookcountyhistory.org/bally-blacksmith-shop
This event is sponsored in part by the Grand Marais Area Tourism Association.
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