“When tearing it down, behind an apron board, we found the original carriages and buggies sign, and we found a feed store sign, and a John Deere sign, and so forth,” said John Tuggle, building owner. The carriages and buggies sign was traced and painted back exactly as the original, he said.
“We kept the original in the warehouse because it was in real bad shape,” he said.
Because the original signs were in too bad of a condition to put back up, the Tuggles had a craftsman trace over the original. The craftsman then recreated the sign.
The Tuggles’ restoration of the building has included other work such as painting the interior and building new docks for semis. The historical building has its original sturdy floors.
“There is still brick work to do, and the outside will be painted next year,” Tuggle said.
The livery stable has been owned by the Tuggle family for 35 years.
At one time there were at least six livery, feed and sales stores in Eaton. The 1885 livery stable is traced back to the 1892 Eaton Business Directory, where W.S. Bucke is listed as a veterinarian on Cherry Street, south of Main Street. In the Eaton Register Industrial Edition, 1907, it shows Bucke on Cherry Street as a livery.
The Tuggles also own Remagen, 121 E. Main St., a distributor of foodservice equipment in Ohio, Indiana, and northern Kentucky.
Remagen occupies three buildings within the downtown Eaton area. In addition to the office, the family owns the 1885 Livery Stable Building and are restoring the façade of the 1921 heated warehouse at 209 E. Main St. The two buildings are used for foodservice equipment and supplies storage.
The last time they painted the livery stable was about 15 years ago. Tuggle said they are getting ready to complete the brick work.
“The inside has been restored. We have some high beams we put up and we redid the concrete. It is a very modern warehouse,” he said. Other upcoming work includes painting and a possible porch restoration.
“We noticed the porch was in very bad shape,” Tuggle said. “Our options were to tear it down or restore it. We could have torn it down for $500 or restored it for $20,000, and there is no return on the investment for porches.”
“It has been a warehouse for many years and it’s part of our history so we want to preserve the past,” he said.
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