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Struthers sign shop plans to highlight building’s history
STRUTHERS
The big blue building next to Yellow Creek Park at 19 Lowellville Road has been home to multiple businesses the past two centuries.
It started as a carriage business for John Struthers in the 1800s, was a sawmill in the 1900s and a T-shirt shop in the early 2000s.
“The building is fascinating,” said Marian Kutlesa, president of the Struthers Historical Society. “I don’t know more recent history with it, but I know it was used by John Struthers as a livery stable in the early 1800s for one of his businesses.”
Kutlesa said John Struthers is the founder of Struthers. She added that carriages outside the big blue building would be used as transportation for visitors in town.
“If you got off a train in Struthers and needed a ride, you could get a carriage from the livery stable at that location,” she said.
In more recent years, the building has become home to End Time Grafix, a family-owned full-service sign shop.
“We do signage for all sorts of people — dance studios, soccer teams, politicians,” said Vito Consiglio, owner of the business.
Consiglio said he moved his business into the Lowellville Road building the end of 2012. He said Daniel Rossi, his father-in-law and CEO of FEIC Financial, bought the building in January.
“I purchased it for minimal amount of money,” Rossi said. “My son-in-law probably couldn’t have stayed there himself after the previous owner left, and I didn’t want to see the store go vacant.”
Consiglio said the building was in serious need of a makeover when Rossi bought it: The siding’s paint has almost all chipped off and an addition to the building needs demolished. He added that the second floor of the building is deteriorating, making it almost unsafe to do business.
“Some of the past owners didn’t address major cosmetic issues to the building, so there’s a lot of cosmetic work that needs to be done here,” he said.
Both Consiglio and Rossi said they plan to refurbish the building within the next year. Consiglio said he could foresee basic changes to the building by next year.
Consiglio added that if all goes according to plan, he hopes to see the building with a “Colonial, 1700s look” by next summer to highlight the history of the building.
“I honestly thought it only dated back to the 1900s, but after learning it’s probably from as early as 1799, I thought that was so cool,” Consiglio. “We are hoping to bring it back to what it was like when John Struthers owned it.”