Friday, July 25, 2008

Downtown Fort Wayne...July 20 2008

My mom and step-dad talked me into a couple of coney's before I left Sunday. I drove up Fairfield and criss-crossed across a couple of streets. Decided to stop and take a couple of photos.



In the parking lot behind Cindy's Diner is a couple of really old signs.

I think this is really cool. They should clean it up a bit, but otherwise, I appreciate the nostalga of it.

And I really really wanted to pull these weeds and do some basic landscaping of this area.

SO much potential....

There's gotta be a LOT of history attached to this building. If you click on the picture (for the larger view), I think you can see that at one time, another building must have been attached to it.

I love love love the brick and intricate patterns (ya gotta look closely to see them).

So much landscaping opportunities...

5 comments:

Andy said...

Scott just sent me a link to your post.

Thanks for taking an interest in the building. It is a unique building with a lot of history. It was built in 1890, and at one time was home to the American Legion Post #47. Industrial Photocopy took possession of it in 1953, and they survived at this location for over 50 yrs.

It is a fortress of a building - with solid brick exterior walls and reinforced steel I beams running through the interior.

With a little luck, the building will hopefully be standing long after I leave this Earth.

The pole sign behind the building stands as a reminder of Industrial Photocopy's presence for over half a century. The retro sign also serves as a home to a family of birds.

Regarding the weeds, you are right - they do need to be pulled.

Kristina said...

Andy, thanks for the history lesson! It's a gorgeous building (at least from the outside). How does the inside look? Would love to see photos of that. A building that has been around that long surely has a gorgeous interior to it.

What's in the building now?

Anonymous said...

TrustBearer recently moved upstairs

Andy said...

Sunshine Home Health Care occupies the first floor. Scott posted a link to WGDT's story on Trustbearer Labs, which recently moved into the second floor.

Occasionally, someone will stop by and share a story/experience about the building. My grandmother actually remembers taking dance lessons on the ballroom floor in the second story of the building.

Unknown said...

What a surprise to see this parking lot. My dad Howard H. More practiced optometry on this site for about 40 years. The patient parking sign was for his and Dr. Blume's practice.