Preservationists organize to save Geneva’s historic blacksmith shop

A group of Geneva residents and historic preservationists created a citizen’s group to restore and repurpose the circa-1845 blacksmith shop on the site of the former Mill Race Inn restaurant and to ensure public access to the Fox River, according to a news release.Called Friends of the Alexander Brothers’ Blacksmith Shop and the Geneva Riverfront, they propose that the 1.82-acre site at the southwest corner of State Routes 38 and 25 should be a public park and a way station for hikers, bikers and others using the Fox River Trail or those paddling by.“The pre-Civil War shop that the Alexander brothers built has long been an asset within our community,” Alan Leahigh said in the release.Leahigh is a Geneva resident and president of the new organization.“Restored to its 1845 appearance and repurposed, the shop and its site can continue as an asset for many decades to come,” Leahigh said in the release.Geneva developer Shodeen Group, owns the corner and proposed a planned unit development o