Field Trip - Springfield, WI (1994)

Since all three of us were down with the flu this past weekend (what non-senior citizens get the flu anyway??), there are no pix of us frolicking on the beach, enjoying abundant California sunshine and perfect high-70s temps. Nope, sad to say, we barely left the house.

So you'll have to deal with more old scans.

Back in the pre-Celeste days, Allie and I used to enjoy hitting antique stores and architectural salvage places (yeah, this should be an entry on this at Stuff White People Like, but I digress). We rarely spent much money, we mainly liked to check out the old junk. I'd occasionally walk away with a good deal on a cool old finger-chopping electric desk fan and Allie may have found cool pieces of vintage McCoy pottery, but we were mainly interested in browsing.

Our friends Rob and Peg turned us on to a small place just northeast of Lake Geneva. We just called it "Springfield", based on the unincorporated town it was located in.

"Springfield" was an old elementary school that had been turned into an architectural salvage shop. Run at the time by an introverted old man, the old school rooms were filled with antique doors, windows, millwork, staircases, etc. You name it. From what I recall, he would salvage these items from Lake Geneva and Milwaukee buildings prior to demolition.
The building's school roots are obvious. Chalkboards and classic school clocks were still up on the walls, and a teeter-totter was put to good use by Allie and myself.
I don't think we ever bought anything there, but loved picking thru the piles of stuff, both inside and out.
I had started collecting old bikes by this time, but was pretty particular - I only wanted old Schwinns. These two clunkers were still cool enough to photograph though.
Allie, Peg & Rob check out a wooden boat with a sweet mid-to-late-50s Johnson...
Aye, Cap'n Rob...
And Allie finds an old sink in the yard. This is shortly before she found a beehive.
I'm not sure this place exists in this state anymore, but looking at a sat photo from Google Maps, it appears that there's even more junk piling up. (building on left side of pic)
If anyone cares to attempt a visit, it's on Spring Road, just west of Hwy 120, about a mile or two north of the Rt. 12 interchange. Visit and send me some info and pix!

EDIT - excerpt from an email from Rob last night -
"Yes, it's still there, more of a mess than ever, we were there last year looking for a closet door for Lake Geneva (no luck of course). Still can't remember what it's called either."