Hey Ralphie Boy I was taking a look at this and then you had the pictures of the stove leftover from the fire. Has any thread missed my gaze about the store and or stove? Im curious. We have stores like this in WA in those sleepy towns. The stores look like they were started as a general feed store that became larger in effect with growing farmers in the area, more cattle and horses etc. always nice to see places like that that keep the old bones. Sorry this happened but hopefully they resurrected something in a bounce back.
The store reopened a year and 3 months after the fire. 30% of the original building was saved by firefighters. This, and the donation of lumber from buildings built in the 1830's, allowed the store to be rebuilt exactly as it was before the fire and remain the Register of Historic Buildings. If you didn't know the store had burned you'd never notice any difference. Rabbit Hash General store has been in continuous operation since 1832. It reopened less than 24 hours after the fire in the barn located next to the General Store. It was a huge effort by firefigjters and local residents, but they did it allowing the store to keep the title of 'continuous operation'. The stove was cleaned, repaired and replaced in the exact spot it was before the fire. It was not the cause of the fire. The fire was caused by a vintage Coca-Cola machine that shorted out.
Well I will l keep looking at the photo someone posted at the top of this thread and think of it that way. These stores sure do have a lot of charm and much better than those store plaza's with cell phone companies and nail salons in them. Now for the subject on the stove, was this a small company making just one model or shape stove was involved or was this a full fledged factory with multiple models like Vermont Castings or Fisher?
I agree! Definitely these niche towns are great as they stick together and work to find a solution without much outside help. A big reason why they thrive.
It was a small, local maker, Rabbit Hash Iron Works, that only made a couple of sizes of the same style stove. Liability insurance requirements and the EPA put them out of business.
I figured that to be the case. If I ever come upon one around here which is probably about as much chance as I do finding a penny after a rodeo...will let you know.
