OUR history

During the Swedish emigration to the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries, about 1.3 million Swedish men, women, and children left Sweden for the United States. The main pull was the availability of low cost, high quality farm land in the upper Midwest. The great, great grandson of Johan, Per Johan born in 1869, travelled to America on the SS Mauretania in 1914 with his two eldest children Dagmar and Janne. After returning for the rest of his family a few years later, Per, wife Matilda, and their two youngest children travelled to America and settled in Chicago, Illinois.

It all started with Johan.

The name Stolhammer derives from the Swedish surname Stålhammar (Stol-hum-mur), which means steel hammer. Our Stolhammer heritage can be traced back to Johan Jonsson Stålhammar, who was born in 1728 and had roots in Värmland Sweden. He later became a master blacksmith.

After years of being an apprentice, then assistant blacksmith, and finally a master blacksmith, he would become an independent contractor and adopt an ornamental family name to mark his social status. The master craftsman then passed on his skills to his sons who also inherited his name. Johan most likely adopted the Stålhammar name after his graduation from the blacksmith guild.

Smiths at work in a foundry by Swedish painter, Pehr Hilleström 1732-1816.

Per Johan, aka Peter John, and son Janne (John) worked hard doing manual labor to support their families, just like their ancestors. Both Peter and John applied for American citizenship and John later began working at a steel mill. John and his wife Ruth had five children, with their youngest son Donald being born in 1937.

Manifest of passengers on SS Mauretania from Liverpool to New York, April 1914.

Since the 1970's, it was the vision of Donald Stolhammer to start a business and work with his sons. In the year 2000, Stolhammer and Sons, Inc. opened for business and later became a three-generation enterprise turning Donald's vision into a reality.

After years of working in the sheet metal industry, the two brothers Aaron and Jordan founded the business and were dedicated to providing custom metalwork services unlike any other in the Bemidji area. It was with the help of their parents Donald and Donna, brothers Eric and Lucas, and sister Kyrsten, along with her husband and each of their wives and children who have all contributed to build the family business to what it is today. Aaron's sons, Jesse and James, who have grown up around the shop since childhood, joined in 2016 and 2019 while daughters Jenna, Janey, and Julia have applied their skills working in the office and around the shop.

Left to right: Aaron, Jordan, Eric, Lucas, and Donald Stolhammer in 2020.

Stolhammer and Sons continues to make finely crafted metal products with timeless craftsmanship and new technology that are beautiful, functional, and stand the test of time.

Aaron with Jesse and Jordan Stolhammer in 2000.