Blacksmithing has become a craft of the past, but Baltimore?s streets still showcase the charm of wrought iron due to a family-owned business committed to tradition.
G. Krug and Sons, the oldest ironworks company in the nation, dates back to 1810, when records show it was founded as Andrew Merker General Blacksmiths.
The current owners, brothers Stephen and Peter Krug, said their great-great-grandfather, Gustav Krug, apprenticed under Andrew Merker until becoming a partner in 1849. The shop became G. Krug and Sons after Merker died, and “it has been father to son ever since,” Stephen said.
According to Dan Meisner, the company?s general manager of operations, blacksmiths in the 17th century were responsible for almost all metal and lock work. But locksmiths now provide a separate service, and maintenance of horses is no longer a blacksmith?s duty, “meaning a large piece of the business disappeared,” Meisner said.
The company now focuses on gates and railings in ornamental iron molded into the finial, tear drop and scrolls definitive of the Otterbein style.
“It?s a style of fence you?ll see all over Baltimore and Annapolis,” Stephen said. “It?s timeless and classic.”
The original fencing around the Baltimore Zoo, Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Washington Monument and the Baltimore Cemetery are testaments to the detailed metalwork of the Krug business.
According to Peter, their clients are primarily businesses, but individuals turn to them for historic restorations or iron work that will fit a more traditional style.
“If you could have the oldest iron workers in the country doing your iron work, that?s incentive,” Meisner said. “You know the work is quality because it was there 100 years earlier.”
Meisner said blacksmithing “is a dying field,” but the 14 employees of G. Krug and Sons work only in solid materials and “aren?t interested in synthetic fences and high-tech polymers” often used for fencing today, he said.
Sticking with tradition, the Krugs already have four of their children working in the shop.
“In fact our best blacksmith is my daughter,” Stephen said of 24-year-old Alexandra Krug.
Tour
» 415 W. Saratoga St., Baltimore
» 5:30 p.m. July 27, $15
» Register in advance by calling Baltimore Heritage, 410-332-9992
