Purkeys Toy Trains History

History of the Building

The building, 1 of 4 identical buildings, was designed and built by J. Harvey Fowble, an accomplished local architect/builder in 1878. It has been a barber shop, run by Leroy (Happy) Keeny for many years. Happy kept pigeons inside the shop and allowed they to fly about. It has also been a bicycle repair shop and an art studio. In 1937, a fire which consumed the 2 buildings next door, burned off the 2nd story of the building. After the fire, it was re-roofed minus the second story. The fire had also damaged the intricate brackets and trim on the lower facade, so the trim was removed and the mess was all covered with aluminum siding. Lastly, all of the large individual window dividers were removed and large sheets of plate glass were installed. The building suffered these indignities for many years.

In 1995, the 2nd story was finally rebuilt using the twin building next door as a guide.

In June 2000, we purchased the building to open Purkeys Toy Trains. We contacted our good friend Jonathan Herman, owner of Herman Construction about doing the restoration of the building. Jonathan accepted the project with his usual enthusiasm, and the end results are spectacular.

	Here it was, in June 2000, neglected, and an undesirable property, except that it was in an active Historic District.
	We removed the plate glass windows, and the aluminum siding. It was depressing to see how bad it was.
	Here it has new window trim, ready for the new glass. You could see where the brackets were missing.
	Serious work begins on the brackets and trim. All trim was copied exactly from the twin building next door.
	The brackets are almost finished. One of the pieces of trim is an row of alternating Scottish thistles and Irish shamrocks, the official flower of both countries.
	At last, the trim is finished, an expensive part of the project, but worth every penny. The painters begin to paint the building in the original colors determined by paint chip analysis.
	Almost there...only 1 month behind schedule.
	The finished facade, only 30 days left to the re-scheduled Grand Opening October 1, 2000

Purkeys Toy Trains closed it's doors on February 13th, 2010