Much of the inventory was salvaged and went to Habitat for Humanity Restores in Miami and Champaign Counties. We removed and recycled 16,000 lbs of scrap metal, sent over 500 gallons of latex paint to a nearby paint recycler, and hauled away almost 12,000 lbs of unusable material (non-hazardous of course). Are we done? Not quite, but we now have a far better sense of the original intent of the building.
As we cleared away the dirt and grime, we also started to clear away the misconceptions that have followed this building for over 70 years. We have read numerous newspaper reports stating that this was the fifth or sixth Edison central station in the country and that supposedly Edison himself came to the building when the electricity started flowing in April 1884. Everyone seemed to know the unique "history" of the place, but there was no evidence of anyone taking a picture of it until the 1950s (Edison was there and no one took a picture?!). So we had a lot of conjecture and absolutely no hard evidence to confirm/deny the myths, nor pictures to help guide the renovation. After connecting with The Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University, we were able to determine that the Piqua site was the fifteenth in the country, third in Ohio, and that Edison did not visit Piqua to commemorate the April event. In addition, working with the staff from the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in New Jersey who combed through their 60,000 images, we were able to obtain a photograph we believe taken in the spring of 1884.
So as we uncover more history of the Piqua Edison Electric Illuminating Co, we will post the updates here. History is too important to relegate it to the heaps of myths and misinformation. Enjoy!
in the beginning...
We purchased the building in the summer of 2012 with the intent to open a restaurant in five years, understanding that it would take about that long to restore the building if we did the work ourselves. Before we took possession, the building had been used as a carpet/paint store and the entire inventory came with the building. The supplies did not seem to be a problem at the time of the closing (in fact it seemed to be a bonus...buy a building, get thousands of dollars worth of merchandise), but as we dug into the building trying to understand its past and architectural details, it became apparent that the stuff had to go. The building was packed from floor to ceiling. It has taken two years just to empty the place to the point where we can really see what we have.
About Us
“Insull travelled the country over, selling the Edison system…and with others he quickly sold and installed plants in Piqua and Tiffin, Ohio; Sunbury and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Fall River and Brockton, Massachusetts; Newburgh, New York, and a score of other places.”
Insull: The Rise and Fall of a Billionaire Tycoon, Forest McDonald, Beard Books, Dec 2004
Keith and Lisa Bowman