Hopkinton Supply Co. Building - Hopkinton MA
Posted by: 
nomadwillie
N 42° 13.728 W 071° 31.249
19T E 291974 N 4678256
Hopkinton Supply Co. Building is a historic building at 26-28 Main Street in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
Waymark Code: WM57MQ
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/24/2008
Views: 14
Between 1885 and the 1920s, George L. Mesker & Co. of Evansville manufactured thousands of ornamental sheet metal and cast iron storefront components that gussied up buildings across the country.
Some of the Mesker facades with their plate-steel columns, and stamped panels, scrolls, pediments, pilasters and elaborate cornices still exist in whole or in part.
Tom Lonnberg, curator of the Evansville Museum that just opened the exhibit "Storefronts of America: The Mesker Story," was surprised when he looked for local examples.
He found some in expected places, including Mesker columns on Downtown buildings at 425 and 514 Main St. There's also a Mesker facade at 7 State St. in Newburgh.
But the Lucky Lady strip club?
"That building (523 N. Main St.) still has some of the Mesker pilasters, and they're painted very nicely," Lonnberg said with a chuckle. "I think it's neat that you have this Evansville family which has an idea. They're in it for the money, of course, but they saw a (niche) for mass-marketed storefronts that could be installed across the country."
The prefabricated pieces were made according to the measurements sent in by a building's owner or they could simply be ordered by catalog and shipped by rail with step-by-step assembly instructions. Some design choices cost as little as $300 or $400.
Lonnberg says it was an economical method of architectural ornamentation — cheaper and vastly quicker to erect than hiring an architect and having craftsmen do carving or masonry work.
George Mesker, whose two brothers ran a competing business in St. Louis, owned a large factory just north of the present-day Casino Aztar. The company's 1896 catalog described it as the "largest and most complete" architectural ironworks company in the United States.
In 1915, during Mesker's heyday, another company catalog showed a U.S. map and alphabetically listed by state where all Mesker storefronts had been sold. Indiana had the most, with 4,130, followed by Illinois with 2,915 and Kentucky with 2,646, but every state had some. Even the then-Alaska territory had 17.
The Mesker brothers' father, John, had sold hardware, stoves and sheet metal from an Ohio River flatboat. In 1850, he settled in Evansville, opened a stove business and eventually began galvanizing iron for buildings. His sons learned their skills from him.
Although George Mesker's Evansville plant continued to operate for decades (diversifying into Mesker Steel, which was sold in 1974 and went out of business in the 1980s), Mesker himself found an enticing reason to leave.
In 1913, at age 56, he married the 18-year-old daughter of a mining engineer and in 1916 they moved to New York and Florida. The millionaire who had lived rather modestly in Evansville began spending more freely. He commissioned architect Addison Mizner to design a Palm Beach, Fla., mansion named La Fontana after its marble patio fountain with life-size sculptures.
Mesker died in 1936, but the man who earned his fortune stamping metal left his own philanthropic imprint on his hometown. He bequeathed a $500,000 trust fund to improve Mesker Park, the 40 acres of wooded land at the top of Summit Drive he had given the city many years before. He also provided funds for Mesker Amphitheater, Mesker Park Zoo and a permanent Mesker Music Trust Fund.
County / Borough / Parish: Middlesex
Year listed: 1983
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1900-1924
Historic function: Commerce/Trade
Current function: Commerce/Trade
Privately owned?: yes
Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2008 To: 12/31/2008
Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Street address: Not listed
Secondary Website 1: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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