News: Greenwood – History of Hoehne’s Hardware Store (2022)

Transcriber: Stan

Surnames: Hoehne, Wuethrich, Lucas, Lindner, Petkovsek

----Source: TRG (Abbotsford, Clark Co., Wis.) 05 Oct 2022

For 14 years, Tonia Wuethrich and Michelle Lucas owned and operated Centuries on Main in Greenwood, attracting customers both near and far with their selection of home decor, flowers and gifts. After they announced the sale of their business earlier this year, the pair have gradually worked through selling their inventory and passing on aspects of their business to other local stores. But for the community of Greenwood, Wuethrich and Lucas had one last gift to give that will forever enshrine the legacy of the businesses that called 105 N. Main Street in Greenwood home.

This past week, Wuethrich and Lucas put the finishing touches on the work they have done to the C. C. Hoehne Hardware Store portion of the Branstiter Museum in Greenwood. Over the course of the past couple months, the pair has been traveling back and forth from Centuries on Main to the museum to donate and place the historical items that once graced their shop at 105 N. Main Street. As lovers of antiques and history, they said donating the items to the museum after closing their business seemed like the natural choice.

“When we decided to sell we didn’t know what the new owners would do with this stuff or where it would end up,” said Wuethrich. “It needed to be safe.”

And now, placed with care in the C. C. Hoehne Hardware room, Wuethrich and Lucas can be at peace knowing the historical items will be protected and appreciated by the community at large. The items themselves -- from barrels, and crate tops stamped with the C. C. Hoehne name, to the unique McCaskey register used at the business for many years -- were discovered by Wuethrich and Lucas after they purchased the building back in 2007; a treasure-trove of history that tells the story of the building at 105 N. Main Street and of the many changes it has gone through in the past century.

“When we purchased the building it took us nine months to renovate,” said Wuethrich. “This building was best known as Hoehne’s Hardware, and they owned it for more than 50 years. Then the Petkovseks (Bill and Yvonne) owned it and they didn’t throw any of this stuff away. All of these items were still in here.”

That didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of work involved with the items’ recovery. When reflecting back on those first months of renovation, Wuethrich and Lucas blanch at the memory of sifting through years’ worth of items stashed away in the basement and other areas of the building and making the decisions on what to keep or throw away.

“You should have seen the basement,” said Lucas. “You would have been amazed. I think there was about 75 crates that we pulled out of there, not all of it was specific to Hoehne’s Hardware. We decided to keep the stuff that we knew was original to the building.”

The items in the basement were not the only treasures they discovered during their renovation. On the back wall of the C.C Hoehne Hardware room of the Branstiter Museum now sits a mural donated by Wuethrich and Lucas that they found as they repaired the building. Using old photos of the building to explain, they said the mural was found on what used to be an outer wall on the north side before an addition was added.

“The mural was in between two walls on what used to be the exterior that was built onto in the late 1800s,” said Lucas. “The whole building was built in 1886 and after that they put on the addition.”

With every piece they went through, more bits of history were revealed, telling a much more personal history about the building than what was known before. Square nails from the inner walls shows what was used to put the building together, crates warning of explosives reminds them of the days when Hoehne Hardware sold dynamite, and the McCaskey register still bears the names of their customers from back in the day -- some of whom residents can trace their ancestry back to.

“The McCaskey register has slips in it back to 1914, like here, someone purchased a whip for a quarter,” said Wuethrich. “We found their old soda license that allowed them to sell soda in town. They had shipping crates that have stamps from the railroad on them. It was so cool.”

Now all of these items are now in their final home at the Bransister Museum. Marked with little Centuries on Main tags and the occasional card explaining the history of the item in more detail, the little room representing the old C.C Hoehne Hardware Store in the Branstiter Museum is now more complete, and more personally connected to the city of Greenwood.

“It really completes this room,” said Pat Lindner, one of the Branstiter Museum’s committee members. “Before we just had some hardware looking stuff that we had put in here. Now there is stuff in here that is actually specific to Hoehne Hardware.”

“What a legacy to leave,” added Lucas.