Little Red Store is back in business

After years of working to restore the historic building, the Little Red Store opened for business - this time as a visitors center and community gathering site.

The Wauwatosa Historical Society held an open house and a bike ride May 2 and 3 to show off the renovations, which took $275,000 in donations and Community Development Block Grant funds and more than 230 volunteers to complete.

"We've saved an important building that is significant to the start of our city," Wauwatosa Historical Society Executive Director Janel Ruzicka said as she stood on the newly reconstructed front porch.

The gingerbread roof trim, white pine basement ceiling beams and Lannon stones that have now become natural benches along the side of the building count among the original features.

With donations of time, products and labor, a restroom with handicap accessibility has been added to the back of the building; the cedar-shake roof and siding were fixes; plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning were installed and new dry wall and woodwork added.

Directing tourists

As the 600-square-foot, cherry red and white building reached completion, historical society members started brainstorming uses for the building.

As a visitors center, volunteer staff will provide people who stop in with information on local places to eat and shop or where to participate in activities.

Until schools let out for the summer, the store will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 3 p.m. Sundays. After that, society members plan to add weekday hours.

Right now, visitors can view historical photos of the village, but eventually Ruzicka foresees setting up other collections from the organization's thousands of artifacts.

This summer, the store will likely sell refreshments like bottled water to encourage runners or bicyclists passing by to stop in, grab a bike path map and take a load off on the porch while enjoying a cool drink. Other items in line with general store offerings like penny candy may be added in the future.

The Little Red Store, 7720 Harwood Ave., will also be available for private rentals for $20 per hour with a minimum two-hour stay. Ruzicka has already had inquiries, and she sees it as a unique spot to host a bridal shower or neighborhood association meeting.

"We have lots of other ideas, but it will take time to implement them," Ruzicka said.

Bike program may be next

One of those ideas is the Community Red Bike Sharing Program, the brainchild of avid bicyclist and historical society Vice President Jeff Roznowski. He envisions people coming to the store, putting down a refundable deposit to rent a bicycle for the day and taking a bike for a ride to Hart Park or along the miles of bike paths throughout the city.

Already, the organization has received two bicycles, which have been painted red. But he would like to build up a fleet of 15 to 20 bicycles in all sizes through donations of bikes that people may no longer use or have outgrown. He hopes to kick-start the program by late summer.

Watching the heavy foot and bicycle traffic passing by the store at all times of the day during the restoration process, Roznowski believed the location was right for a bicycle share program.

Renee and Ted Barthel and 2-year-old daughter, Cecilia, stopped in as they walked home from church. They have watched the restoration work progress and Cecilia's mom said her little girl, who was clutching a plush cow, had become fond of what she calls the "moo-moo barn" due to its colors. The family said they would patronize the building and its events.

"It's good to see the revitalization," Renee Barthel said. "We like to support the village and want to see more activity down here."

A few of the open house visitors voiced concern that the store was too hidden within the Wauwatosa Village Business Improvement District to draw much traffic.

But Ruzicka said an effort by the BID to get more people to use the parking lot that is close to Village restaurants and the revamped Tosa Green Market that is looking at starting up in the parking lot would help draw traffic.

"We didn't want to move the building," she said. "It's truly the heart of where we started - right between the river and the railroad tracks."

Stefanie Scott can be reached at (262) 446-6618.

WauwatosaNOW.com

See a photo gallery from the Little Red Store rededication

TIME LINE

A brief history of the Little Red Store in Wauwatosa:

1850s: Little Red Store is built by Dr. Levi Halstead as part of the original Wauwatosa settlement. It replaces a shanty where the village's first sermon was given. The building is eventually purchased and set up as a store, post office and library.

1890s: Fire broke out in the village destroying more than a dozen buildings, but due to its proximity to the river, the store survives. The building is used to house an upholstery business, residence, electric company, insurance business and plumber.

1914: A harness-making shop moves into the building.

1929: Wauwatosa Ice and Coal Delivery becomes a building tenant.

1949: Master Glaze Co., Uneeda Shine Parlor and J.I. Cronin Co. electrical contractors occupy the building.

1956: The building is sold to the Jacobus Co., which had large fuel tanks behind the store. Restoration work is performed.

1970s: a train derailment near the store prompted Jacobus to relocate its business and sell the building to the city; it is designated a historic landmark.

1982: Harmonee Bridge is built and the Harwood Avenue Bridge is replaced with a pedestrian bridge reducing traffic to the area.

1990s: Harwood Engineering is the last in a line of numerous tenants that rent the store. The city declares it as a historic building

2001: The power plant building in back is torn down, utility connections are severed and the site is declared a brownfield due to fuel-oil contaminated soil. A public parking lot is created and the building is vacant.

2003: Wauwatosa Historical Society begins looking into how the building could be saved. Zimmerman Design Group draws up renovation plans.

2005: Wisconsin Trust and Historic Preservation names building as one of state's 10 Most Endangered Properties. The historical society approaches the city with a proposal for fundraising to restore the store.

2008: The Little Red Store is named a Milwaukee County landmark as the oldest standing post office in the county.

2009: Restorations complete, the Historical Society operates the building as a visitors center and meeting place.