42 | WINCHESTERCOLLECTOR.ORG • SUMMER 2016 Courthouse. He not only discovered the title deeds confirming the location, but also inadvertently found the address of one of the owners (Sperbeck) who had lived only two blocks away from the store. David imagined Sperbeck walking down the street to work at the store. Many of the local historians at the Maritime Museum, local library and beyond were instrumental in his quest for historical accuracy. They bought into the project and searched the state library in Des Moines, Iowa, where they were able to confirm the location of the original storefront through insurance company records. You may be thinking, why all of this painstaking research? Once David decided to undertake his grand quest, he wanted near historical perfection. His store had to be the most exact representation possible of an actual Winchester Store as it existed in 1928. He studied old Winchester Store photographs found in the Winchester Herald Magazines and in the Winchester Marketing Guide titled Methods of Store Arrangement (seen above). Once he had a plan, construction began in the late summer of 2013 and included the recreation of a 1928 Winchester Store front inside of his new building. In order to maintain historical accuracy, he hired local artist Jack Rees to create murals on the walls on either side of the storefront. These murals (seen opposite page, bottom) depict the 1920’s view of 104 S. Hill Avenue—the original location of the Spirit Lake Winchester Store. Wanting to add a little personal history to his project, David had a 1928 Chrysler, just like the one owned by his grandfather, painted into the intersection in one of the murals. He used tin ceiling tiles, vintage shelving and showcases, complete with lighting as seen in the Winchester literature. Some of that lighting is original, which adds to the authenticity.
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