History (re)Made

Fort Property manager Allegra, and Mandi Caskey, a.k.a. @miss.birdy

A keen eye and a coat hanger can do a lot. That keen eye belongs to our property manager, Allegra. She saw a hint of old painted letters under plaster as she walked the third floor of 2000 South High’s unfinished space. That same day, she joined Fort tenant artist Mandi Caskey as they chipped at the plaster with a coat hanger. They saw big lettering come to life. With more revealed, they thought it looked like LOVE, under an old funky mural that we’ve called Drummer Jesus (below).

But our history pointed to a more likely solution: Seagrave Co, and they were right. Seagrave launched on our large land parcel in the 1800s, making ladders for firefighting. After ladders, Seagrave made complete fire trucks, with all the fancy brass and pinstriped trimmings.

The weird part was finding the Seagrave Co lettering painted on an interior wall. But that’s also part of the Seagrave history. They didn’t launch here with a complete set of buildings as we see today. Instead, they built new structures as needed, matching those buildings to specific needs of a company that grew quickly and eventually shipped firetrucks around the globe. As a result, the Seagrave Co lettering uncovered by Allegra and Mandi was once an exterior wall that faced High Street. Eventually, the administration building was created and exterior wall became interior.

Drummer Jesus won’t stay, but in the new studios being planned for this space, we are definitely keeping the Seagrave Co type. And we’re hoping there’s more to see as we continue to prep the space for construction. Stay tuned, and if you have an extra coat hanger handy…