James Soule Blacksmith Shop, 1898

James Soule Blacksmith Shop, Cedar Street, Middleborough, MA,

real photo postcard, 1898.

The handwritten caption on the card reads:"Middleboro, Plymouth

Co., Mass.  On the road from Eddyville to Halifax.  Before and after

1860, this was the blacksmith shop of James Soule.  Grass &

flowers, in the foreground, grow where was formally [sic] the lane.

This picture was taken 29th of June 1898."

This real photo postcard depicts the James Soule blacksmith shop which stood on the west side of Cedar Street, Middleborough, between Soule and Winter Streets. The shop was operated by James Soule (1811-84) and was built on Soule’s homestead farm [now 94 Cedar Street] probably in the late 1830s or 1840s. It is clearly shown on Walling’s 1855 map of Middleborough, and it remained in operation through at least 1880 when Soule is listed as a blacksmith in the census record for that year.

The shop was one of three which once served the Soule Neighborhood, including an earlier one at the corner of Cedar and Winter Streets and a later one at the corner of Cedar and Soule Streets.

The view captures the shop the year before it was moved across Cedar Street for use as a grain storage house on Charles H. Soule’s duck farm. The shop no longer stands.