Uncovering bits of history
One never knows what will be uncovered when peeling off the accumulated layers of a century-old building.
For a new Ramona business owner, that has been part of the fun about restoring the approximately 135-year-old structure at 629 Main St., most recently home to Catt Farm and Ranch Supply.
“I said ‘this is it,’” Peter Bidegain noted about finding the building during his search to relocate his El Cajon businesses, Antiques & Treasures and Pacesetter Stereo.
“I couldn’t wait to jump in. Old buildings really intrigue me,” said Bidegain, who has remodeled old houses.
Built in 1881 or 1883, depending upon the source, the building was the first commercial establishment in the Santa Maria Valley, opened by Amos Verlaque as the Santa Maria Store, according to local historians.
Alice Funk, office secretary at the Guy B. Woodward Museum, next-door neighbor to the commercial building, said the site was a store and a stagecoach stop. It gave people the opportunity to change horses and purchase supplies on their way to Julian.
“At that time there was nothing on Main Street until that was built,” Funk said.
Soon after it become the Verlaque Brothers General Merchandise, and subsequent businesses included the J.A. Verlaque Pioneer Store and The Pioneer Market, according to historians.
“It’s time to put it back to its original luster,” Bidegain said.
The business owner and his contractors have been busy taking the structure back to its origins. That included removing acoustic paneling and finding barn wood beneath.
In the west section that was added in 1885, Bidegain found a San Francisco newspaper dated that same year and pieces of wallpaper pasted to the walls. He said a contractor told him that was done to seal the gaps in the barn wood.
In that same section he also found a sales ticket for Knudsen Dairy Products, postmarked 1962, and a 1968 wage-earning sheet showing a rate of $1.25 per hour.
While pulling down an acoustic paneled ceiling in a bathroom that had an antique medicine cabinet, Bidegain said a 1987 Hustler magazine and a Budweiser can dropped out.
“It’s been a hoot,” he said of all his findings. “It’s just a timeline.”
He was especially excited when he uncovered a column that turned out to be a pot-bellied stove chimney in the back where he will have his office.
“It’s remarkable” he said.
The bottom is made of barn wood, and stacked on top are layers of brick that have a round hole cut out to attach a pot-belly stove, he explained.
Bidegain said he has some pot-belly stoves among his antique store merchandise and plans to place one in that spot, although it will not be functional.
He also found an old door cut horizontally in half.
“I wish I had the top half,” he said, showing his appreciation for all things antique.
Bidegain removed flooring in the store to take it down to the original hardwood and reveal the historical wear and tear. Plans called for adding four coats of clear varnish “so we don’t actually take away from the original look of the wood.”
In two areas of the building Bidegain said he found concrete slabs that rose above the floor and appear to have been added to hold something heavy.
“I ground them down flush to the wood,” he said. “I’d sure love to find out what those concrete footings were for.”
Bidegain, who lives in Ramona, is shooting for a soft business opening the third week of February, and a grand opening March 31 to mark his 37 years in business.