By Jacki Moss

Special to the Tribune

There's just something satisfying about an historic building being treated to a facelift. It's even better when the facelift brings the building full circle. The façade of the building that houses Tillis Jewelry on the downtown corner of Second Avenue and West Commerce has undergone a transformation that brought it back to its past glory. The original woodwork and storefront was meticulously scraped, restored, and repainted with the rest of the building, giving it the look and ambiance of times gone past.

The original cast iron storefront columns with plaques read, "Geo.L. Mesker & Co. Architectural Iron Works, Evansville, Ind." The Mesker Brothers was one of the most respected companies producing architectural ornaments for businesses from the 1880s until the second decade of the 20th century, producing and selling an estimated 5,000 facades mounted on buildings across the country. The savings and variety of choice, along with the ease of order and shipping, made Mesker facades particularly popular in small towns such as Lewisburg, where budgets were limited, but that still sought a sophisticated look.

Rick Tillis, owner of Tillis Jewelry, loves that the building has come full circle.

"It's fantastic. This is such a historic building on the square. I think it is great that it has been restored," he said. "And what makes the restoration even more interesting is that it was a jewelry store many years ago, just as it is today. I like that we are carrying on that tradition. We have customers who have told us that they bought their wedding bands in this very building when it was McCollum Jewelry Store years ago. It brings back good memories for them. And that makes us happy, too."

History and the character of his city are important to Tillis.

"I love historic preservation. It retains the character of a building and, therefore, the town square," Tillis said, noting they kept the restoration as close to the original design as possible.

Building owner Rick Perryman echoes Tillis' sentiments.

"I was born and raised here in Marshall County, so it's important to me to help preserve and to beautify my community. This idea to restore the building had been in the works a couple of years." Perryman continued. "It's important for people to support our local downtown businesses, because everyone likes to see them thrive. So I'm going to do everything I can to help support them, as well. I have great tenants and I very much appreciate them."

Perryman said that he asked Tillis to choose the color scheme for the renovation, because it was Tillis' place of business and would reflect on his style. Perryman hired local painters, Chad Woodward Premier Painting, to do the work.

Before the outside restoration, the interior restoration for Tillis Jewelry totally transformed the space, opening up the area, brightening it, and giving it an air of historic sophistication befitting the building's historic prominence. To further add to the ambiance, they have an antique neon jewelry store sign in the window. Tillis said that there are plans to expand the store in the very near future.

The building's corner location, directly across from the Marshall County Courthouse, makes it highly visible and it has a lot of traffic, so Tillis hopes the restoration will continue the downtown restoration energy.

"We would love to see the momentum like Franklin interjected into their downtown businesses that brought about a lot of activity and consumers start here," he said.

Ken Todd, a board member of the Lewisburg Downtown Alliance (LDA) agrees with Tillis, who is also a member of the LDA.

Todd said, "Our goal is to revitalize our city with a focus on the square. We want to get businesses and people involved and reconnected with the city as a whole, starting with activities and events at the square."

Todd explained that an objective for the LDA is for citizens to become accustomed to, and to expect that if they come downtown, there will be something to do there.