How Grandview’s Fortin Ironworks turned a small welding business into a destination retail storefront, without abandoning its family-owned roots By Jim Fischer / Photos by Maddie Schroeder
If you’re among the thousands of Central Ohioans who have driven past Fortin Ironworks in Grandview and thought, “That sounds potentially cool. I wonder what they do,” then, you’re not alone. “It’s something we hear a few times almost every day, that someone has driven past and eventually decided to stop in just to see,” Bob Fortin, retail buyer and member of the company’s second generation of Fortin family members, said. So as a public service to all of the curious Columbusites out there, here’s the full story of the iconic Grandview business.
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(614) MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2022 614NOW.COM
The company recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, which means its roots go back to the middle of the 20th century, when Joe Fortin started Fortin Welding in 1946. Fresh out of the Army, he served as a welder, and was newlymarried to wife Josephine, with whom he’d built a home on 3rd Avenue. The business that stands today at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Hess Street in Grandview started in his garage, but grew quickly, necessitating the acquisition of additional shop and garage properties in the neighborhood over the ensuing decades. →
