Auburn Iron Works

Built: circa 1865
This long standing single story industrial building has a corrugated metal, sloping gable roof capped by a rectangular monitor.

Historical Significance: The present Auburn Iron Works has been operating as a blacksmith's shop in the same locality for over one hundred years. By 1888 George Allen and Joseph Sandhorfer had established this shop at Auburn Station, becoming one of the first blacksmith's shop to operate near the Central Pacific Railroad Station. At that time, the main part of Auburn was one mile to the southwest and Auburn Station, or East Auburn, was just starting to develop. Although the business, as well as the property the shop is on, has changed ownership several times through the years, it has always been run as a blacksmith shop. At times, other services such as wagon making, harness making, wood working and automobile repairing were offered in conjunction with blacksmithing, but it is the blacksmithing which is ongoing today. Built over the Boardman Canal, this shop may well be the oldest continuously operating blacksmith shop in Northern California and it continues to provide a necessary service to the community. It is an excellent example of a once common and vital trade that has largely been displaced due to the many changes in automation and technology.