Did you know that Jacksonville’s northeast corner of California and 4th streets housed businesses serving local transportation needs for over 110 years? Most residents associate the location with Rasmussen’s Super Serve. Established by Ernest Rasmussen in 1950 as a combination gas station and car repair shop, the gas station portion closed long ago, but Ernest’s grandson Steve still operated the popular local repair service until 2022. However, that corner has an even older history of servicing local transportation.
David Cronemiller, a native of Pennsylvania, arrived in Jacksonville in the early 1860s, and opened a blacksmith shop on that site in competition with the successful Patrick Donegan smithy diagonally across California Street. Business must have been booming since Cronemiller’s original smithy was soon replaced by a large, well-equipped blacksmith and wagon shop. He was described as “an excellent mechanic,” “always kept busy by satisfied patrons.”
Donegan had closed shop by the late 1800s but Cronemiller continued to operate successfully until 1904 when his health began to fail. Cronemiller died in 1910, mourned by many for both his “honest and upright” nature and “his gentle forbearing ways.”
Cronemiller’s smithy and wagon shop were torn down in 1929.