projects
Ole Olsen Memorial Theatre Project
We are currently helping the Ole Olsen Theatre troupe in Peru, Indiana with repairs to the dormers on the old railroad depot that they use as their base. The old wood siding on the dormers have gaps to the point that our crew said you could see from one side of the dormers out through the other side! We are replacing the old siding with vinyl and wrapping the existing window trim with new rot resistant materials. The window glass will be protected and insulated with Lexan covers.
It’s unfortunate that the previous roofing project was poorly executed. Flashings were not installed properly around the dormers causing damage over the years. The shingles were not properly laid out, so the lines are uneven and do not match on either side of the dormers and there is a round turret where the shingle line waivers up and down as it rises. All this detracts from what is an impressive historic structure. The details on the building are quite impressive, though as is often the case with historic structures, neglect has taken its toll over the years. Bob Cooper and Ken Stiles have been our crew on site and they are struggling to fix past mistakes and blend the new work to fit with the historic structure.
This postcard supposedly shows the first CR&M (C&O) depot in Peru, Indiana. I would rather think this really the freight house, even though it resembles a depot. The brick and stone depot was built in 1901, which was the year the CR&M started running to Peru. I can’t explain the train order board. I did talk with a C&O retiree and he said he remembered the building as a yard office after it had been moved near the river. I am open to comments on this one. Postcard from Bob Albert collection.
Apparently there have been a plethora of gawkers sharing their comments and perspectives with Bob and Ken. One of them spoke very authoritatively on the structure and stated as fact that the structure was over 200 years old. The guys found that a little suspect since the State won’t be celebrating its 200th birthday until next year. I did a little internet research, which I admit is also always a little suspect, but I found references to the railroad first coming to the Peru in 1854 on the Indiana Transportation Museum site. Since is seemed a little unlikely that the depot was built in anticipation of the railroad that didn’t arrive for another 40 years, I did a little more digging. I found the picture to the right showing a picture of the original depot with a reference to the current brick and limestone depot being constructed in 1901 on the Hoosier Valley Railroad Picture page. 114 years old is still impressive, but a little short of the 200 year claim.
Historic structures are always interesting and challenging. We are attempting to be cognizant or the theatre troupe’s limited funds, where more extensive work might be appropriate. We want to thank the Ole Olsen Theatre Troupe for their faith and confidence in Easterday Construction Co., Inc.
Yei-Yei’s Game Room Video
Eric Wildey of Game Room Guys shared this video he made of the interior of Yei-Yei’s Game Room. Game Room Guys supplied all of the arcade games. I think he’s done an excellent job here!
We were still finalizing a few details when this was made, but I’m probably one of the few that would even notice that.
The page on our website for this project is still under construction as I write this, but if you want to see what’s completed so far, you can click here.
Warts and All
I haven’t been posting as often as I would like the last few weeks as I’ve been working on getting another project up in our portfolio. (Not to mention dealing with the holidays, Will and Kathy’s retirement, etc.) Yei-Yei’s Game Room is a project that we’ve been working on since the summer of 2013. We expect it to wrap up this Spring. The project is unique. It is an underground game room with two bowling lanes as the center piece. The challenges of the underground structure adjacent to a lake with the associated waterproofing along with learning a plethora of bowling alley minutia were something out of the ordinary. Anyway, I thought I would include the link to the draft here for anyone who wants to watch the creation and editing process as it goes. I don’t want my lurkers to get bored!
I’m attempting to create some slide shows to illustrate some of the sequencing like I did with the Logansport Library page. I did a slide show for the stairs there. (I’m always amazed when I see how many pictures I’ve taken and yet don’t have the one I want.) There is an issue with the program where it doesn’t like more than one slide show on a page, so I’m attempting a work-around on that.
If you go there and find errors, feel free to let me know. I’m still considering it a draft until I put it in the portfolio link structure so you can find it from the main website menu.
Antiquarian and Historical Society Museum & Visitors Center
We completed work on the Culver Antiquarian and Historical Society Museum and Visitors Center this Spring. The project created space for them in the W. O. Osborn‘s old offices in the First Farmers Bank & Trust building in Culver. We haven’t done any work in the bank since its most recent incarnation as First Farmers Bank & Trust, but I remember working for Easterdays on projects there back when I was in college and I know there were multiple earlier projects as well.
Partition Wall separating Visitors Center from Bank Lobby
The project involved adding walls and doors to create a segregation between the bank’s space and the Museum/Visitors Center. This was so bank security could be maintained when hours differed. A hallway was sealed off and an aluminum and glass partition wall created a separation in the lobby. While it wasn’t possible to bring make the existing bathroom accessible, we did create an accessible path between the lobby and the bathroom. The age of the bank building made it necessary to due various code updates such as adding exit fixtures along the accessible path.
Our contact for this project was George Duncan and we enjoyed working with him on this. As with all committees, there are challenges due to lots of opinions. George did a great job insulating us from those issues and keeping things moving smoothly.
One of the more interesting aspects of this project was their desire to create video viewing area. Since much of Culver revolves around the lake, they wanted to do this with a mock boat theme reminiscent of the old tour boats that used to be on the lake. (I remember the “Maxinkuckee” that was docked at the park when I was a kid and I remember the Doodle-bug which was a venture launched by Muelhausen’s. The Doodle-bug was the last tour boat I recall.) The boat was created with two half walls. We cut curved ribs to create a curved wall. We also cut curved wall caps and base plates to simulate a curve at the bow. The curves are subtle, but sufficient to give the desired effect. We then used shiplap siding to create the hull. One of our carpenters, Mugurel Stefan, did an excellent job with the millwork and construction of the boat. To be more economical and to put his touch on things, George came in and painted the shiplap siding at our shop. He also applied the polyurethane to the oak members used for rail and columns for the canopy. The Antiquarians provided and installed the canvas canopy at the top. Inside the boat we installed bench seating and a cabinet to house a DVD player. The cabinet sports a ship’s wheel to keep with the theme.
To further make the feeling authentic, we took used utility poles, cut them and installed them along both sides of the walkway by the boat to simulate pier moorings. 1-1/2″ jute rope wraps the poles and spans between them. The old wood floor was exposed also. As you walk in beside the boat, you seem to be on a dock. If anything, it came together better than expected. It’s always interesting what grabs people’s attention. We’ve received more questions about the pier mooring and the rope than anything else. They didn’t come close to the degree of difficulty involved with the curved boat walls!
The Antiquarian and Historical Society is a repeat client for Easterday Construction. We completed the construction of the pergola and lattice panels for Heritage Park. We did the buildout for their original home in the basement of the Carnegie portion of the Culver Library. The area had been relegated to basement storage and we upgraded it to modern museum space, installing wainscot, carpet, and electrical including lighting. Later we were called back to enhance the museum entrance where we installed a replicated portion of the park pavilions which were formally platform shelters for the train depot. We put a mural on the adjacent doors and installed artwork using double French cleats. We’re always glad when a client is pleased with our work and calls us back for round two… and in this case round three and four!
Easterday Construction Co., Inc. was pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Antiquarians again. In recognition of this, we were pleased to donate the pier moorings portion of the boat display to the museum.
Picture Source: Boat and Pier pictured provided by Jeff Kenney
Fletcher Cemetery Monument has been Relocated
Lenker services completed the monument move last week. They also removed and buried the old monument base, so the site looks significantly different!
This was a delicate procedure and Tom Lenker is one of the few people I would trust with the relocation of this irreplaceable historic monument. The move was completed without a hitch and the monument looks good in it’s new location.
We have completed installation of the stacked block retaining wall and have begun forming the memorial plaza. The veterans are selling brick for the plaza if you’re interested in helping them out. Contact Brent Martin at B.A. Martin Architects, PC and he can get you in touch with the right people.
Easterday Construction will be donating the installation of a new flag pole at the site as well. The base has arrived for the pole. The pole should follow shortly.
