Ribbon cutting eMbers

This afternoon the Chamber of Commerce had is ceremonial ribbon cutting at eMbers, Rensselaer's new event hall. There were a lot of people attending.

 After the ribbon cutting, a guided tour was available for anyone who wanted one. Notice the decorative element along the wall, the thing with the wooden rectangles ascending to the ceiling. That is not only decorative, it is functional. The bottom box hides the air return vents. The boxes by themselves were not especially attractive, so they were made into a decorative element with the addition of the ascending rectangles.

The ceiling is the original ceiling, hand painted brown and gold. Many, many hours went into the painting of those pressed iron panels.

On May 21 Main Street Rensselaer recognized Ryan and Janelle Musch for their contribution to downtown Rensselaer. The rehabilitation of the building turned an eyesore into one of the best of downtown's old buildings.

The building has had only three owners. The original occupant was Warner's Hardware, which closed in the 1950s or 1960s. Beaver News then occupied the building until a few years ago. It was basically a warehouse during the several decades as Beaver News. When they ceased operations, the Muschs bought the building. They have no pictures of what it looked like as Warner Hardware, and the pictures they have of the exterior during its early years are pictures that focus on its neighbors. So it you have any old pictures of the building, especially the interior, they would be glad to see them. Also, the upstairs was used for an office in the early years of the building and who was there is not known.

The Muschs want to have frequent public events. The first will be this weekend (June 1) featuring Moonshine Mason and the Rot Gut Gang, a country western band from Lafayette. See here for details.