History

The Boekhoff Building

Although the exact date of the Building has not been confirmed yet, we believe the Building was completed in 1897. While completing some Termite repairs in a crawl space we discovered an old glass bottle, corked & sealed with wax containing a rolled up note. This turned into a rather large family debate on whether the bottle should be opened or not, because left sealed it was a great conversation piece. So for the time being it was decided to remain sealed. Fate happened and the bottle was accidentally (supposedly) broken. The note revealed a date in 1897 along with signatures. We think these three craftsmen of their day were proud of their workmanship and sealed the bottle closing the completion of the construction. To our knowledge the upstairs that you will be touring has always been residential housing.
We were able to salvage almost all of the original flooring & wood work. The highlight of the kitchen ( which before the renovation was the bedroom with 2 levels of drop ceiling ) is the original sky light, beautiful to see at night, but lets in an immense amount of natural light through the day. Cabinets were crafted by Rich Wolter to replicate what you would have seen during the turn of the century time period. Modern conveniences were added for making those who stay more comfortable. The Kitchen is completely stocked for whatever your needs are, along with the original candy scale from WM. A. Voss & Son Grocery Store. The bedroom is furnished with correct time period furniture. 22” flat screen LCD TV was placed in the corner of the room to not take away from the originality of the setting. Traveling down the hallway past the mirrored closet doors takes you to an out side porch. The living room features a 42” flat screen LCD TV with DVD & CD inputs for any kind of viewing & listening medias, along with DSL hook up for your computer. The widow sills contain pictures of the Red Bud downtown area around the turn of the century. Window dressings were designed and made by Lori Hentis to reflect the Victorian era. A look out the windows gives you one of the best views of the downtown area.
This upstairs area is available for rent by the night or week. Vendors & Customers for Local Business’s have utilized this apartment. Local people have rented it for out of town family members during anniversaries, weddings & other special occasions. In our short time of renting, we’ve had guests from Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Indiana, Colorado, North Carolina, and even a long distance two day traveler from Finland. Our plans were to be a little further along with it prior to the Christmas walk, but the building’s south wall wanted some attention first. Fortunately the Building is safe again and it is better than the day it was built. The demise of the Building was not from the original design, but modifications to expand the building later on in its life.
Many Thanks to Jane Lucht who provided a lot of the information we have on the original store fronts. Pauline’s Beauty Shop was first, followed by the Red Bud Pilgrim Newspaper (proceeded the North County News) started in 1898 by Guy Seely and continued by A.E. Aubuchon until 1946. The original printing press foundation is still under the floor. This foundation was used recently to help us pull the building back together. There is a picture upstairs that actually shows the printing press were the foundation remains. The Pilgrim remained here until 1959, with Olin Kettlekamp & Trudie Mohr still working from this building. Gert Schrader opened a Dress shop in 1939, expanded to both store fronts after 1959, and remained here until 1973. It was then bought by Gerry Weir, and was called Gerry’s Closet. Later the building was purchased by Doctor & Lada Tang, and the store became Lada’s Dress Shop. Lada later rented the 2 store fronts along with the 1855 Building ( the old Dime store to most of us ) to Les Horn of Horn’s TV. Horn’s will be moving into these new store fronts while the 1855 Building under goes its renovation.
Alan & Karla Mueth purchased the 2 buildings as one parcel in 1994 as it was rumored that a 7/11 franchise was looking into demolishing the 2 buildings to make way for a modern facility. Alan & Karla had been involved with the renovation & Candlelight tour of the Zeibold Building, and thought this project would be a lot of fun, just a little bigger than fixing up & restoring another old car. Well…….it’s been all that and a whole lot more !