Harris (General Blacksmith) was established in 1937 under Basil Harris. Basil and his wife Amy who both came from Albany purchased the business located at 8 Allardyce street from Mr. Howard. Basil ran the business as a Farrier, General Blacksmith & Wheelwright employing locals: Watty Wolf, George Altham and Charlie Frantom, to name a few. After WW2 (1940-45) Basil was commissioned to manufacture t
he bodies of the 1st School buses in the district, (approx 1947) Miss Gnowangerup, Miss Amelup and Miss Ongerup. On leaving school eldest son Peter joined his father in the business, trading as B. P. Harris. Unfortunately due to a tragic workplace accident in 1958 (fuel tank explosion) Peter lost his life. This accident left a large gap in the business and 3rd son Bill (William) who was then working for the local newspaper the Gnowangerup Star expressed interest in joining his father. Their time together saw many changes with the agricultural industry changing rapidly. Bill had inherited his father's natural ability to make anything required from forge work to welding, repairing machinery and manufacturing bulk grain handling equipment. Blacksmith shops were built low and with minimum light to more easily judge the right temperatures of steel for tempering, and as trucks and machines grew larger a lot of jobs were done out in the weather on concrete pads under a gantry crane.
--1983--
In 1964 Bill married Helen Hassett, who was soon recruited into the family business doing the office duties, this seemed to be a sign for Basil to take Bill into the business as a partner, thus B.P. Harris & Son. In 1976 Basil retired leaving Bill & Helen to run the business. Due to the nature of change in manufacturing, sadly the Allardyce Street premises became outdated and in 1983 a move to larger premises at 15 Corbett Street was made. In 1983 Michael (2nd son of Bill & Helen) joined the business to learn the trade, and completed his apprenticeship with flying colours, winning the state award in his 2nd year, and apart from 24 months in Leinster working in the mines has been with B. Harris & Son since then.
--2002 to today--
Through careful business management in the hard times and customer loyalty the business once again outgrew the premises. With the need to manufacture grain Silos a move was made to our current location (54 Quinn Street, Gnowangerup) in 2002. Today Michael runs the business with Bill semi retired and Helen still helping out in the office. We continue to go from strength to strength with a great team, and the continued support of the district.
