Time To Sober Up A Little Bit

I am trying to lay off the Whiskey for a few days. Been hitting it pretty hard the last few weeks so no Whiskey shots for at least two days. It is so good but I just need to fight the temptation to fall off the wagon. How about Friday. The weekend will be here. We will get a good Whiskey buzz going then. For all of you American Carriage Builder virgins you will need to scroll down a few posts to reference the Whiskey story.



A mini Columbus walking tour blog today seemed like a good idea seeing I didn’t seem to have anything else to talk about. The photo above is our clock tower on City Hall. It is the trademark for Columbus and rightly so. As you can see it could use a paint job. Wherever there is a historic project in need you will find Alice Schmidt. For a sweet little lady she seems to get involved in just about everything. In cooperation with the Columbus Historic Preservation Group and the City of Columbus they raised the majority of the funding for the painting of the clock tower. Hat’s off the all involved.



This is our historic City Hall building from my perspective just down the street. A fantastic building with offices on the first floor and the original auditorium still intact on the second. The auditorium will be it's own blog one of these days. The City and the local utility are working on burying all the unsightly power poles and lines which will be a huge improvement.



This is the former Anchor Bank building that was relocated to this site across the street from us eight years ago and never finished. You know, the old "free building" routine. It is now moving quickly and nearing completion of the renovations to turn it into office space for our City Economic Development Director and the Recreation Department. Big improvement in our view across the street. The parking lot to the left of this building is being repaved along with new lighting. Oh yes, power lines - gone and new trees in their place.



Farmers and Merchants Bank is really a blog in itself as well but here’s a very brief introduction to tie you over until then. This bank building was the last project commissioned by renowned Chicago Architect Louis Sullivan and was completed in 1920. Much more on this topic to come in the future.



This is a view of Dickason Boulevard going west from our showroom. In the forefront the Civil War Monument. The bronze was restored last year and you guessed it Alice Schmidt was very involved in that project as well. In the background is the Zeidler Funeral Home. This is one of many significant historic homes in our community.



Around the corner the Main Street organization is doing some tuck pointing on their building. This is the home to the James Street Gallery, the George Hasey Popcorn Wagon and the Columbus Main Street program. My buddy Judd Becker is up on the lift doing the tuck pointing. If you ever need any good masonry work done or some steers roped up let me know. I’ll put you in touch with Judd. He’s really good at both.



On the corner is Sharrow Drug. This drugstore has been in business on this corner by the Sharrow family for over 100 years. With out question a significant architectural contribution to our downtown but more importantly from a local business standpoint.



And finally another municipal project. The public parking lot on James Street is being repaved along with new lighting and plugs. Yes plugs. Little ol' Columbus is a leader in alternative energy development. Many of the public parking lots are now equipped with plugs for electric vehicles. These can be used by private citizens or for municipal vehicles several of which are electric in Columbus.

A new parking lot project last year beside City Hall was equipped with an electric car outlet. This project was completed over a year ago. A few weeks ago there was a big article in the Wisconsin State Journal. It was about the innovative, progressive, visionary City of Madison leading the way by being the first city in the State of Wisconsin to install an outlet in a city parking lot.

Yo - Madison. You were only about a year behind Columbus.

Have a great day.

Best!
Todd