The architectural/industrial salvage store that opened last spring currently welcomes visitors with an old metal cell from the Franklin County Jail that was plucked from a scrap yard, Iron Dog owner Terri Bessler said.
Her vision for a still operable cell door: a unique entry piece for a wine cellar.
Others, she admits, might see the piece and have an even better plan for its reuse.
The Iron Dog is filled with materials such as wood beams, windows, doors, old bathtubs and industrial lighting.
While the downstairs is filled with the salvage, including furniture made from the items, the upstairs houses 25 vendor spaces featuring antiques, vintage pieces, home decor and what Bessler described as “funky junk.”
“It is not just preservation, but offering killer home decor is the other side,” Bessler said.
The business is located in the former Benkin and Co./Studio 14 building at 14 E. Main St. downtown. It is a short distance from Bessler’s other business, Midwest Memories.
Shelby Anderson is The Iron Dog’s manager bringing an artist’s touch and a background that includes demolition work.
“I kind of made me sick to my stomach to throw this wood away,” Anderson said of store offerings and memories of her previous work.
“Every time you throw something into a Dumpster, it breaks your heart,” Bessler said.
The store gets its inventory primarily through word of mouth. The offerings come from basements, barns and other places.
“They come to us. People have things and don’t want to just throw it away. They know it has some life left in it,” she said. “The younger people, the younger couples who come in want nicer things but also want a piece of history to go along with it.”
The Iron Dog name was drawn from local history and the story of a family that moved to town in the late 1800s with their young son and a dog, Bessler said.
After the boy passed away, the dog would walk to the cemetery and visit his grave. When the dog died, the family had a cast iron dog placed at the cemetery. The iron dog later was later moved to private property where it remains, she said.
The Iron Dog is open seven days with hours Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, go online to www.irondogsalvage.com/. The business is on Facebook.
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