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By JAMIE SOTONOFF Daily Herald Staff Writer A historical discovery was made during a simple renovation project in downtown Palatine. It happened while John Giovannoni was fixing up the building at 47 W. Slade St. last week. Giovannoni owns the adjacent mu sic store, The Music Room, and leased the space next door so he could offer more classes and music lessons. As Giovannoni and a few friends pulled down the third false ceiling they found, one of the guys uttered some thing strange: “Oh, horseshoes.’ Giovannoni walked over and saw stakes nailed onto rows and rows of ceiling beams, with the outlines of horseshoes around each one. The Palatine Historical Society con firmed last week that the discovery was the remnants of the old W.E. Schering Blacksmith Shop, which operated in the early 1900s. It also was known as Schering’s Shoeing Shop. William Schering was the oldest blacksmith in Illinois when he retired in 1953 at age 85. “We always wondered exactly where the blacksmith shop was, and now we know,” said Palatine Historical Society President Marilyn Pedersen. “Back then, they didn’t use addresses so it was hard for us to know exactly where everything was. This is just ter rific. It’s so exciting.” Besides the horseshoe outlines, Gio vannoni also found two partly decom posed posters glued to the walls that advertise “California Fig Syrup.” He uncovered a few old light fixtures buried into cubby holes, a sign that marks a place for “White Layer Cake,’ “This stuff is so cool. All of the merchants who have come here have been oohing and ahhing.” John Giovannoni, Palatine business on and a sign handwritten in pencil that says “Waffle Flour.” Giovannoni believes the site might have been a grocery or dry goods store at one time, but historical society offi cials can’t confirm that. They are cer tain, however, that the building has been there since the late 1800s. The discovery along Slade Street has created quite a buzz among local mer chants and longtime residents. Word has spread, and people have been stopping by daily to take a peek. “I think I’ve told the story 3 million times,” Giovannoni said. “I don’t mind though. This stuff is so cool. All of the merchants who have a hero have been oohing and much to the historical society's de light, Giovannoni plans to preserve the horseshoe outlines and one of the posters with a protective coating and use them to decorate his business, named Studio 47. He plans to open the music store annex in a few weeks, once he can finish renovating the small first floor space. “What I'd really like to do is fix up the front of the building so it looks like it did, but that’s a lot of money,” Gio vannoni said. A native of Harvard, Giovannoni opened The Music Room at 49 W. Slade St. seven years ago. He restored the building, constructed in 1903, so it would maintain an “old time feel.” The cabinets, for example, are from the late 1800s Three weeks ago, he decided to in vest $12,000 in renovating the building at 47 W. Slade St. It had been a stamp shop, a beauty salon, and for many years, a popular shoe store. “This place had never been reno vated, only added on to,” Giovannon said. “I didn’t even want to do this at first. It was such a mess in here and it was so disgusting. So to find this made the whole project worthwhile.” While doing renovation work at 47 W. Slade St. in downtown Palatine, John Giovannoni discovered the remnants of an early 1900s blacksmith shop. Outlines of the horseshoes can be seen around each ceiling joist. Bilt A Palatine Historical Society photograph shows what the W.E. Schering Blacksmith Shop looked like in the early 1900s. Remnants of the shop were discovered last week. At night, Giovannoni found an old poster advertising “California Fig Syrup.”
Newspaper Details
Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago
Arlington Heights, Illinois, US
Wed, Jul 18, 2001
Page 92
Full Page
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USA 21 Jul 2026
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