The 1874 Dan Messner Building

One of my favorite re-enacting friends is Brooke Sauter. She is a knowledgeable historian and when Leslie retired last year, became the new director of The Feast of the Hunters' Moon. (She will do a fabulous job!)

Brooke, Leslie, and me getting silly as we set up my tent at the Feast last year.

She is also a very accomplished sewist and leads the Feast Sewing Circle. When I have a question about how an 18th century garment should be sewn, Brooke is my go-to gal.

Showing us how to use the burn test to determine the fiber content of our fabric.

This is a picture of Brooke and her husband Tom in front of a historical building they recently bought and plan to restore and preserve.

The 1874 Dan Messner building in tiny Oxford, Indiana, just west of us. And that's Dan Messner as in the DAN PATCH Dan Messner. (All photos and text used with Brooke's permission.)

Red tag: Oxford, Indiana. Red dot: my home. Blue dot: the barn.

Brooke writes,

A little history about the building:

Built in 1874, the Messner building was a general store for the first 104 years, called "Messner and Sons," he who also bred and raised Dan Patch the race horse! (Read more about Dan Patch at http:www.danpatch.com.) Messner and Sons sold everything from clothing, shoes, sewing supplies, and other dry goods.

I have already found images of the building during its early days and look forward to using these as inspiration as we work on restoration. It was also interesting to learn that there was a bowling alley up on the second floor for many years (and) there are still a few bowling balls floating around. The building actually suffered a fire in 1943 that gutted the place but (it) was saved and again in use by the Messner family through 1978. Some of the charred boards remain and remediation will be done.

This grand gal is about 9k square feet and two stories. It sits on the town square of Oxford and was built during an era where Oxford was the County Seat.

Now, what Brooke plans to do with it? Stay tuned, but let's just say it will be cool.

I've heard a little bit about her plans and she's right, they are cool. And Brooke and Tom know what they are doing when it comes to history and how to preserve it as well as showcase it for others to learn from and enjoy. Stay tuned is right!

We had three winners in the guess the famous horse from Indiana - I'll spin to win for those maple cakes tomorrow!