It’s not uncommon for families to downsize their homes, and to part with once-treasured items. In the summer of 1995, Lake County resident Mr. Richard (Dick) Louis found himself at an antique auction in Madison village. It was the second day of a two-day sale, and many of the noteworthy items were gone. Happily, he found an overlooked object in a barn, a dirty, grimy, flat rectangular wooden panel that he was drawn to. And for less than eight dollars, Mr. Louis purchased a piece of history!

The panel, 25”wide by 42” high, was filthy. Dick spent countless hours and plenty of elbow grease removing the layers of muck. Under the heavy grime was soot, as though the item had been in a fire, and under the soot and grime were (mostly) cracked glass panes with water damaged print advertising. Between the center glass panes were two columns of numbered hooks. The numbers started at 245, increased by 15 (minute?) intervals, ending at 900 – similar to 15-minute intervals on a clock. Across the bottom of the panel were four rows of numbered hooks, numbered 1 through 60, 15 numbers per line.

Intrigued, Dick reached out to the Madison Public Library and Madison Historical Society, who concluded the panel was very likely a Key Rack belonging to the Roadside Inn, once located at the southwest corner of River and Main Streets in Madison village. The Inn was a hotel and restaurant with a large ballroom and attached livery. In January 1927 the Inn, owned and operated by Joseph and Vernie Hellreigel, burned to the ground. The fire was described by the Geneva Free Press as “the hottest in the history of the village”, and the heat so great, windows in the surrounding area cracked from it.

Originally built in 1849 by Harrison Wheeler and opened in 1850, it was known as the Wheeler House. As it changed hands over the years, it was also known as Coville’s Exchange, Madison House, Temperance House, and the Park Hotel. After the 1927 fire, the property changed hands several times, and was eventually acquired by the Behm Family Funeral Home in Madison as their parking lot.
Dick was able to salvage three of the original Madison business advertisements and two of the glass panes. The broken glass was replaced by age-appropriate wavy glass. As a native of Willoughby, Dick created ads using several Willoughby businesses found in an 1878 Lake County Atlas, along with some original Madison advertising material he sourced from eBay. Unsure of what originally filled the topmost two panes, Dick chose to use the Park Hotel name. He replaced several wood muntins, hand-staining them to match the rest of the wood, used age-appropriate wood for backing on the Rack, as well as age-appropriate paper on the re-created advertisements.

Early in 2022, Dick emailed MHS his story and several photos of the Key Rack, as well as the Geneva Free Press article. We were hooked, and responded with many, many questions. He and his wife Betty graciously offered to bring it out to MHS to let us photograph it and try to answer all our questions. When they arrived with the Key Rack on May 12th, we realized the pictures we had were inadequate to convey what a beautiful work of craftmanship and restoration it actually is. Dick didn’t keep track of the time spent on the project, but given the state he found it in, verus the beautiful condition it is in today, MHS estimates it was several hundred hours invested in restoring it. Dick and Betty patiently answered all our questions, and shared a folder full of information Dick collected as he restored it. At the conclusion of their visit, an unexpected surprise – Dick and Betty Louis made a wonderful Gift of the Key Rack to the Madison Historical Society. We’re excited to receive this astonishing piece of Madison history, and encourage readers to find time to visit us at MHS and see our latest acquisition – right across the street from where it originally came from!

You can find more information about this in the upcoming July/August issue of ‘The Times.’

Submitted by Jesse Devin, Social Media Assistant Madison Historical Society