The building located at 180 North Main Street in Eureka, Nevada was built in 1877 by Tognini and Company. The Swiss-Italian Company consisted of Joseph Tognini, Ferdinando Bonetti. And Gabriel Zonali. The Eureka Billiard Hall Saloon was operated here. Like many other companies in Eureka at the time, Tognini and Company was one of the largest companies involved in charcoal production. The building attached to the north was built in 1934 by John Biale. The front bricks are the same as those used in the construction of the local school. Other portions contain bricks salvaged from the Pinto Mill that was located several miles southeast of town. This building is also the site of the first business establishment in Eureka - a canvas tent -known as the Pioneer Restaurant. The star plates and rods on the sides of the building hold the walls together. The sign “Trupak Palora Peaches, a distinct new variety,” was painted on the wall circa 1930.
More recently – in the late 1940s – the building was a grocery store. Mrs. Meeker ran the store and had "just a few things in there," according to Joe Kitchen, Jr., son of Joe Kitchen Sr. one-half of the Kitchen Brothers grocery. Mrs. Meeker’s son Kenneth helped her run the store after he returned from serving in the military.
Kenneth was a sailor in the U.S. Navy, and returned to Eureka bringing two friends from the Navy to live in Eureka . One was Hoot Gibson, who later moved to, and married a girl from, Ely. The other man, a Georgia native, was Carlton S. Thomas, who stayed on and married a local girl named Gwen Morrison in 1952.
The building was closed to the public following the last days of Meeker’s Grocery, and just opened its doors this Spring as Eureka Restoration Enterprise. Beginning in October 2015, Amanda Pearce and Garney Damele, working with building owner Jerry White, sold the goods in the building and used the funds to restore it.
In May 2017 it opened as a gallery for Nevada-made products and artisans to sell and display their goods. The business, One-Eighty, aptly named to represent its location on Main, is hopefully just the beginning of Main Street's recovery from it's empty state. The storefront is operated as a non-profit, and all revenue helps fund improvement projects and public art installations on Main Street in Eureka.
More recently – in the late 1940s – the building was a grocery store. Mrs. Meeker ran the store and had "just a few things in there," according to Joe Kitchen, Jr., son of Joe Kitchen Sr. one-half of the Kitchen Brothers grocery. Mrs. Meeker’s son Kenneth helped her run the store after he returned from serving in the military.
Kenneth was a sailor in the U.S. Navy, and returned to Eureka bringing two friends from the Navy to live in Eureka . One was Hoot Gibson, who later moved to, and married a girl from, Ely. The other man, a Georgia native, was Carlton S. Thomas, who stayed on and married a local girl named Gwen Morrison in 1952.
The building was closed to the public following the last days of Meeker’s Grocery, and just opened its doors this Spring as Eureka Restoration Enterprise. Beginning in October 2015, Amanda Pearce and Garney Damele, working with building owner Jerry White, sold the goods in the building and used the funds to restore it.
In May 2017 it opened as a gallery for Nevada-made products and artisans to sell and display their goods. The business, One-Eighty, aptly named to represent its location on Main, is hopefully just the beginning of Main Street's recovery from it's empty state. The storefront is operated as a non-profit, and all revenue helps fund improvement projects and public art installations on Main Street in Eureka.
PRESERVATION THROUGH INNOVATION
