The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1935-07-18
In New York
BY PAUL HARRIsoNo

FOrty-I1rSC street is q DOCK con-
tanning seven garages and various
automobile accessory stores. Sand
wiched between a couple Of them,
with the Chrysler building rising
in the background like a stern
symbol of modernity, is a little
blacksmith shop.
1t is the only one left in the
district. The proprietor is Pat
rick Conroy, wiry, white-haired
Irishman from County Galway. A
smith at IA, he came to this place
in 1895. soon bought out his two
competitors in the block, and
prospered for many years. A
brother was a partner for a while,
bue he went back to Ireland.
Two brothers-in-law helped at the
FORCES, but they have gone into
the trucking business.
Only Patrick remains. Mostly
he sits and stares into the WHISKY
smoke rising from the idle forge.
Sometimes he turns on the new
tangled electric blower and re-
shapes tool for a workman, or
fashions a brace for a broken
bumper. Nobody seems to have
horses anymore" he says, almost
in a whisper.
Carriage Trade Days
Back in the '90's there were
twenty blacksmith shops on
Murray Hill, but Conroy had the
cream of the business. Astors
and Gerrys and Townsends and
such. Reggie and Cornelius Van
derbilt, as kids, used to hang
around the place watching the
sparks fly, and later he shod their
ponies and horses. The rubber
shoes which some of the dairy
companies are Dragging about to-
day as standard noiseless equip
ment on their delivery horses arc
40 years ago on the carriage
horses of the fine old families.
When the circus came to town
Conroy would have to hire a lot
Of extra help and work day and
night shoeing the horses which
had just been brought out of win
ter quarters. Police and fire de-
partments sent him great deal
| of business too. And he got lots
of jobs from the Hippodrome in
the years when mig stage specta-
ces were presented there.
The circus has its own smiths
now, and so do the dairy compa-
MES. The Hippodrome doesn't use
horses any more. And Conroy
lost the police and fire depart
| hIrcinnCo NIB oh
ing was made civil service job,
Civil Service. mind you--a man
was supposed to go and take an
examination, writing answers on
| pieces Of paper to prove that he
was qualified to pump a bellows
and WELD hammer. To the devil
with it, said Md. Conroy.
Anvil Chorus
It has been several years now
since any private family in the
district has kept a horse and car
riage. BUT right up until 1884
he had a good thing in the proud
old firm of Charles & Company,
grocers. They had 76 delivery
horses at one time, and Conroy
was the smith. But without any
worning at all the wagons were
replaced by a fleet of trucks.
The shoeing business, what
there is of 1t, now comes from a
few butchers and daiyrmen and
junk dealers. over the forge,
and never used now, is q big
brass-studded bellows, more than
a century old and fit for q mu-
scum. The anvil Is a lot older
than that, but Conroy IL unable
to trace its history for more than
q hundred years. The little office
is such an incredible tumble OF
old tools that he scarcely II able
to get into 1t. Rusty files and
broken-handled hammers are
piled on ledgers which haven't
been opened In years.
The smith use dto be quite q
horseman himself. owned trot.
ters and won cups in races and
1t the horse shows when Madison
Square Garden was In Madison
Square. He accepts the ubiquity
OF the automobile with . quiet
pained resignation. Has . cal
himself. in fact, and keeps Il IN
the blacksmith shop. But he vii
tell ycn that cars haven't speeded
things up ct NJ. He and his Wifi
used to drive 10 coHey Island I y
= buggy IN an hour. To-day, u
IN automobile. u takes longer.
/