McCarthy Anvil Memorial to be Dedicated on Medfield Day

Retired farrier Robert O. McCarthy was a friend and mentor to many before his death in February at the age of 84. Myron McLane was one of those people.

“Bob not only trained me in my trade but he trained me in life as well; he was my mentor for everything,” said McLane, 67 of Somerset, who was an apprentice for McCarthy for eight years (traveling daily to Medfield) starting in 1967. 

“He was one of the finest men I ever knew," McLane said. "Truthfully, he was an unbelievable person.  He was very, very generous and he was always looking out for everybody else. … That’s the reason I want to have this memorial for him.”

McLane is coordinating a monument that will be placed at the site of the former blacksmith shop on Janes Avenue, where McCarthy’s father (John P. McCarthy) had a blacksmith shop from 1920 to 1953 before the younger McCarthy took over and ran it until 1996.

McCarthy was well-known for the quality of his work.

“To be able to turn this [bar stock] into this [horseshoe] with a hammer is really, really something,” said McLane in a recent interview at his shop in Mansfield.

McLane purchased McCarthy’s anvil at public auction in 1996 when the blacksmith shop (and two other buildings on the site) were taken by eminent domain to build a municipal parking lot.  McCarthy tried to give the anvil to his former apprentice but McLane insisted on buying it. 

The center of the tribute will feature McCarthy’s 225 pound anvil - purchased by the senior McCarthy in 1931 - on which he learned the horseshoeing trade from his father and on which he taught McLane and others. The Eagle anvil made by Fisher and Norris will be secured to a 6.5-foot granite post which will protrude 18 inches above ground, with a four-foot cement square surround. The cement surround will have an “faux planking” imprint, to represent the floor of a blacksmith shop  in which will be imbedded shoes made by McCarthy and everyone who was trained on that anvil. 

“There will be at least five apprentices’ shoes plus two shoes of Bob’s that I just finished cleaning,” said McLane

The anvil will be dedicated on Medfield Day when members of the farrier community, including four of McCarthy’s former apprentices and the McCarthy family will be present.

“My dad was a pretty quiet guy, he’d be humbled by it and honored by this,” said John McCarthy of Southborough.  “I think he would be extremely honored by not just the anvil and the monument, but also the fact that Myron is putting in and around the stone, shoes that were made by my grandfather who taught my father the trade, by Myron and other farriers that my dad also taught.  It’s not just about him, it’s about everyone who learned the trade on that anvil.”

Town Historian Richard DeSorgher said the memorial will commemorate an important part of Medfield’s history.

“The fact that Myron McLane, a long time apprentice and colleague of Robert McCarthy, would undertake this project at his own expense says something about what Robert McCarthy meant to him,” said DeSorgher. “It also is an important historical reminder about Medfield's past. As we continue to lose more and more of our past with demolition of historic homes, Medfield, board by board, also loses a part of what makes Medfield, Medfield. …This memorial will keep in people's mind an important piece of our past. Two blacksmith shops were on that location from the early 1800's until 1996. So, in addition to being a memorial honoring Robert McCarthy, it also is a historical marker, making note what was on that location and showing that we in Medfield care about our history.” 

The memorial is the least he could do, said McLane. 

“I learned everything I know from him. … I’ve had a fantastic career and it’s all because of him training me and being such a great person,” said McLane. “If it hadn’t been for Bob McCarthy, I wouldn’t have had the life I had. …It’s been quite a ride.”

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