Historic Kalispell blacksmith shop gets a new lease on life

An historic blacksmith shop in downtown Kalispell starts a new life Monday morning when it reopens as The Forge, a coffeehouse, diner and music venue.

But as the name suggests, owners Ken and Judy Sederdahl tried to keep intact the old-time feel of their building at 227 First Street West.

From out on the street, its false-front facade looks mostly untouched except by weather and time.

Inside, the well-worn floor still displays its collection of nicks and scrapes from years of hard use.

Dozens of horseshoes found on the property hang from the rafters above.

Old blacksmith tools adorn the walls. So do the marks of brands seared into the wood long ago.

“Everything that was in here is still in here. We didn’t get rid of it, we didn’t sell it,” Judy Sederdahl said about the building.

She and her husband Ken renovated the blacksmith shop over seven years as their time and money allowed.

They got a lot of help from family and friends and semiretired builder Norm Moss, who agreed to help as long as it wasn’t “too hot, too cold or raining” on the day in question.

“We couldn’t have gotten to where we are without that,” Judy Sederdahl said of the help.

The work was noticed. This fall, The Forge was awarded “remodel of the year” by Kalispell’s architecture review committee.

Committee members praised the Sederdahls’ efforts to save an old building, keeping its historical integrity while breathing new life into it at the same time.

The Sederdahls recall the moment when their project that almost never was started looking like it was meant to be.

That was when they found and bought Boyd’s Blacksmith Shop, a roughly 100-year-old building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Paris Boyd and his son Glen ran the shop in the 1930s and 1940s, offering general blacksmith and horseshoe services.

From the late 1940s to early 1980s the building housed Jimmy’s Welding, where James Schmauch fixed logging trucks and farm machinery and always welded wheelchairs and children’s bikes free of charge.

As a member of the Kenny James Miller Band, Ken Sederdahl was looking for some place to open a small coffee shop and music venue.

The only problem was finding that place. At the time there was nothing zoned commercial on the market for less than $300,000. And that was way beyond budget for the do-it-yourself venture.

Not wanting to leave Kalispell, the couple reluctantly looked elsewhere. They were about to close a deal for an old freight building in Lewistown, but after one last weekend visit decided to hold off.

When they got back in town, a friend asked Ken if he ever looked into the old blacksmith shop on First Street West. At the time it was hidden in tall weeds and leaning precariously.

“I just drove down that morning and looked at it. It was falling down and dilapidated, but I remembered seeing it years ago, back in my drinking days, and thinking it might be a great bar,” Ken said.

The Sederdahls got in touch with Judy Gorton and her brother Jim Schmauch, the children of James Schmauch. They learned the building could be theirs for the same price as the building in Lewistown.

It was an affordable and unexpected answer to their dilemma, but far from the end of their challenge.

“When we drove up, I told my sister, ‘We bought it, I love it,’” Judy Sederdahl recalled. She was just about to tell her sister that all it needed was a little work when her sister cut her off and shared her own opinion: “It needs a wrecking ball.”

That’s almost what the blacksmith shop got. The only other offers the Schmauch family got for it were from people who wanted to tear it down to build a parking lot.

Over the next seven years the Sederdahls cleared away a small jungle of weeds, cranked the collapsing building back into shape with a chain hoist, cleaned up years of black carbon dust that had settled everywhere and hauled out a couple of dozen one-ton bags of sawdust insulation they removed from the attic floor and from inside the walls.

Then came the finish work.

The Forge is more than they thought it would  be.

With a full kitchen, they hired “Chef Zeke” to serve hungry customers with breakfasts, sandwiches, soups and salads to complement the pastries and the cookies they initially planned to serve.

One corner displays Montana arts and crafts for sale.

And a small stage with lighting, amplification, drums and a piano awaits local musicians.

With all the hard renovation work, Judy Sederdahl said she never once worried about “what the heck they were getting themselves into.”

But that’s what’s going through her mind now, having quit her day job to help run The Forge.

The tax appraiser’s been out to see the fruits of their labor and they can’t afford to just let the building sit empty anymore.

It’s time to throw open the doors to the new business.

The Sederdahls hope people will stop by — and be patient when it comes to any kinks that may be left to work out on the fly.

“Stop by, say hi, get a cup of coffee. And bear with all our mistakes,” Judy Sederdahl said. “Sorry in advance.”

JUDY GORTON said she and her brother Jim plan to be opening-day customers at The Forge.

The two of them spent a lot of time in the shop when it was Jimmy’s Welding in their younger days.

And those old nicks and scrapes on that well-worn floor bring back a lot of memories.

“It’s just amazing,” Gorton said of the work that Ken and Judy Sederdahl have done to bring the building back to life.

It ended up perfect: The Sederdahls found a great spot to forge their new hangout, and an old blacksmith shop that spurs fond memories for the Boyd and the Schmauch families found a new shot at life in Kalispell.

“He would be happy. I’m sure he’s smiling,” Gorton said of her father.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.