On the northwest corner of the intersection of Parley and Granger Streets in Nauvoo, Illinois, is the reconstructed blacksmith shop once owned by five brothers. They were Edwin, Chauncey, Edward, Pardon and James Webb. Edwin was at work in the shop by 1841 and was joined by the others, who learned the trade from their father.
The Webb brothers are probably best known for the role they played in building and repairing wagons used in the exodus from Nauvoo to the western part of the continent.
In addition to blacksmithing, they were wainwrights (wagon builders) and wheelwrights (wheel makers). The Webbs were among the last to leave Nauvoo because they were working to assist others in getting outfitted for the trek west. The business continued in subsequent years in Ogden, Utah.
Today, missionaries demonstrate much of what blacksmiths did in old Nauvoo. In addition to traditional visitors, busloads of area children come to the blacksmith shop to learn about an aspect of life in Nauvoo in the 1840s. Included in the demonstrations are small horseshoes and rings made from nails, called “prairie diamonds.”