Ames Shovels

When El Nino rolled into California a few weeks ago with the fury of winters past, I found myself at the Ace Hardware in South Lake Tahoe, buying a snow shovel for my car. CalTrans' "Just in Case" syndrome had me walking down aisles of candles and emergency blankets. When I grabbed the snow shovel, I immediately was struck by the fact that it was made by Ames Shovels.

Ames Shovel may, or may not, jog a few brain cells for you, but for me it was a jolt to see that the company was still doing exactly what it had been doing for the past two hundred years.

Not that any of us are shovel aficionados, but if you think far back into that architectural history class, you may remember a few of H. H. Richardson's projects when the name Ames is mentioned. You may also remember Trinity Church in Boston, perhaps Richardson’s most famous built project Richardson designed a large number of projects, (see map) primarily in New England.

Richardson, the father of Richardson Romanesque, found a patron in Oakes Ames, one of two brothers who provided all the shovels used to stretch the Trans-Continental railroad across North America.

A resident of North Easton, MA, Ames hired H.H. Richardson to design a number of projects, including the Oak Ames Memorial Hall + Ames Free Library in town, as well as the Ames Gate Lodge at the Ames Estate.

Eventually, Richardson also designed the Ames Monument in Wyoming, which is certainly worth the side trip if you find yourself in the upper Plains. Along with Richardson, Augustus Saint-Gaudens contributed a bass relief of Ames. Saint-Gaudens is perhaps best known for his Robert Gould Shaw Memorial bass relief monument on Boston Commons, and like the Ames Monument, Saint-Gaudens’ home site is worth the side trip if you are in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire.

A shovel in a hardware store reminded me that architecture and the history it has constructed can weave its way into everything. It’s a rich world out there, take it all in!

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