"There is hardly a building in Baltimore that doesn't contain something we made, even if it is only a nail." So boasted Theodore Krug, heir to the oldest continuously working iron shop in the country. For more than 170 years artisans here have hammered out practical and ornamental ironwork that still graces such local landmarks as Otterbein Methodist Church, the Basilica of the Assumptinon, Washington Monument, Zion Church, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Baltimore Zoo.
The modest beginnings of the shop date back to 1810, when farmers traveling to and from the market stopped to have their horses shod and their wagons repaired by blacksmith Andrew Schwatke. In 1841, Schwatke transferred the enlarged business to Andrew Merker, who, in turn, sold to Gustav A. Krug, a young Bavarian immigrant and ancestor of all the subsequent Krug family owners. This distinguished firm's long record of fine blacksmithing includes restoration work for Colonial Williamsburg and for the Vieux Carr? in New Orleans.
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