Area woman finds surprises beneath the layers in downtown renovation

COLERIDGE — Some people see the light. Some see a sign. Cammie Metheny saw the Statue of Liberty.

One glimpse of the landmark painted on the wall of a downtown Coleridge building sent the rural Laurel woman on a renovation journey to restore the building to its original glory.

“When we started taking out the drop ceiling in the building because we needed better lighting, I put the ladder up against the wall to see what was underneath there. Where we happened to put the ladder, we pushed the tile up and there was the Statue of Liberty on the wall. It was like, oh my gosh, what is under there?”

Metheny discovered a 45-foot-by-8-foot section of the wall filled by a Fresco-style mural at 106 E. Broadway Ave. And it was just the beginning of many more murals and other surprises to come even the discovery of mannequins dating back to the 1800s.

“Things evolve without you even planning on it,” Metheny said. “I thought we better figure out what was really underneath all this stuff.”

The bottom half of the Fresco murals had been painted over so Metheny took a steamer and hand-picked the paint off to reveal the lower half.

“You don’t get it back fully but you can still see the picture,” she said.

About six layers of flooring were chipped away to reveal original wood flooring. The drop ceiling was taken out and the original tin ceiling was restored.

The Methenys stayed true to the building’s character from researching period-correct paint colors to installing a period appropriate five-foot chandelier.

Pieces that were added into the space contained local and sometimes historical elements like two railings salvaged from the Meridian Bridge, doors bought from Wayne State College, baseboards rescued from a Coleridge home destined for the burn pile, staircases from St. Boniface Catholic School in Elgin, and trim and doors from another home in Vermillion, S.D.

“It was all old materials put back into the old building,” she said.

The exterior of the building was re-painted and new concrete added to the front. A deck was added to the back of the building, and so much more.

“There was a million other things to get from where we started to what we have now,” Metheny said of the restoration project that took years and hundreds (maybe thousands?) of hours put in by the Metheny family and helpful friends.

The building was a grocery store for about 90 years and underwent many ownership changes over that time. Most recently it was being used by a commercial painter who sold the building to Metheny for a retail space for her vintage-inspired decor creations and wholesale items.

Since she became the owner, Metheny learned that prior to becoming a grocery store the building was home to the Oscar Boettner Theatre and featured live performances.

She’s tried tracking down more information about the theater, Boettner and the Fresco murals that feature city landmarks and skyline. Her curiosity led her to visiting with past owners, the Cedar County Historical Society and even the Theatre Historical Society of America to no avail.

“I looked in the corners to see if he

(the painter) signed and I never found anything,” Metheny said. “Maybe he hid his signature in the painting but I couldn’t find anything.”

There’s still an opening on the back wall for the theater stage and Metheny learned it may have also been known as the Orpheum Theatre at one point.

She’s also heard the space was used for basketball games with the original 18-foot ceilings but those who may have used it for that purpose have since passed away.

“There’s nobody to really tell us anything about it,” Metheny said.

In September, her daughter, Madison, decided to use the building as a venue for her wedding reception - scheduled just 2 1/2 months later in mid-November.

Metheny moved her vintage merchandise out and cleared the way for the restoration to go into overdrive.

“It was right before fall shows and people were looking for merchandise. They all came and everybody took trailer loads out of the store. What was left, we categorized and sorted and everything went in the storage unit. We cleaned the building completely out so we could have a wedding in it,” she said.

Work continued up until about two days before the wedding with many reassurances from mother to daughter that it would be ready in time.

Metheny said there’s several more upgrades that need to be made to the space such as an additional bathroom and perhaps a kitchenette.

“That’s probably about it for now,” she said, adding that the thought of more projects after years of restoration work at the property isn’t appealing at the moment. “It really depends on demand.”