A gift to a retired Cole Camp couple will soon become a gift for the town and possibly the state of Missouri and beyond.
When E.L. Eickhoff died in 2016, he willed his properties to Bob and Wanda Brown, longtime residents of Cole Camp. One property is the Henry Eickhoff Store and Shop on North Maple Street.
Eickhoff closed his family's woodworking shop in the late 1950's, and it has been sitting there with all the tools since then — quite like a time machine with everything frozen in place. The Browns hope to begin restoring the building and its contents at the beginning of the year.
The 1898 building, on the National Register of Historic Places, housed a business founded by Eickhoff's grandfather, Henry. It was built with local products of that time period. While the downstairs housed a woodworking shop with steam-powered and belted machines, the upstairs once hosted a live theatre, with the stage and hand-painted backdrops still in place.
Bob Brown said that, along with the shops on Maple Street, they also inherited the old E.L. Eickhoff Furniture Store and a funeral home on Main Street. A bonus to the inheritance is a native prairie that has never been plowed; the couple plans to maintain its upkeep.
He added that Eickhoff wanted the Maple Street buildings to be made into a museum in honor of his parents, Edward Lewis and Vernetta Eickhoff.
"It was a woodworking shop that was set up in 1898," Bob Brown said. "His grandfather started making trim for houses, then made caskets and gunstocks. We believe it was the first gunstock factory in Benton County. We have to verify the dates on that. We believe they were before Bishop in Warsaw."
Bob Brown added that the Eickhoffs also made a lot of furniture at the shop, including wagon wheels and baseball bats.
"And some of those things are still in the building," Bob Brown said.. "A lot of the old original equipment is still in the building — all the hand tools."
A Museum To Honor The Eickhoffs
The couple said they are going to recreate the shop as it was in the past, turning it into a museum for others to tour.
Eickhoff and the Browns were friends. Eickhoff's wife, Betty, died six weeks before Eickhoff, and they had no children to leave the properties to.
The Browns have worked on all the other properties and are now prepared to tackle the woodworking shop.
"We hope to finish the progress in a year," Bob Brown said. "That's going to be a lot of work in there. This building was originally powered by a steam engine that sat outside. It was operated with what they call a line shaft. It runs down the length of the building, and all the machinery in there was powered off of belts — and they're still there."
Wanda added that the machines were initially man-powered with pedals.
"Before they had that line shaft in, they were pedal-powered, like the lathe, when you first walk in," Wanda Brown said.
At some point, the Eickhoff family converted the woodworking shop to electric power. Bob Brown noted that the shop operated until the late 1950s.
"They still made cabinets and furniture (at that time)," Bob Brown said. "They made kitchen cabinets and countertops there towards the end."
An Honor To Restore History
The Browns said they are honored and excited to own the shop now.
"Actually, that's why we put this project off until last," Bob Brown said. "Because it's so important to get it right. At this point, we have not found another workshop like this in America. There may be one out there, but we can't find it. There's a workshop in Florida with the old vintage equipment, but they've brought parts in and created that one. It's nothing like this old original shop."
Bob Brown added that the upstairs of the building had what was once a live theatre.
"There was a room where they held dances," Bob Brown said. "And they did plays there, and there's old wooden bleachers. There's a stage there and the old backdrops that are rolled up from that era are still there. Some are from businesses from the '30s and '40s."
Bob Brown noted that during the '70s and '80s, people piled many things on top of the historical items so their work would be cut out for them as they began the restoration. The woodworking shop is a jewel in the rough waiting to be uncovered.
"You've got to look past all the rubble," Bob Brown said. "The old theatre will be a very interesting project, and we'll probably do it in a separate phase. The first phase will be the woodworking shop downstairs."
Inside the downstairs, one will find 1934 calendars hanging, handmade tools, the original steam-powered pullies, the body of one of E.L. Eickhoff's airplanes (the wings are upstairs), two vintage hearses, one a 1937 Nash containing bottles of embalming fluid. There are also vintage gun stalks and replicating machines.
"They even hung their leather aprons when they were done," Wanda Brown said. "They just hung them on the wall, and they are still hanging there today."
"Do The Best You Can"
Bob Brown said he and Wanda Brown both hate to touch anything because it's so historical.
"But this is what he wanted done," Bob Brown said. "He asked us to do it, so we will. All these projects are going to take several years of our lives. In the back of this building is a blacksmith's shop that was originally built in 1880," he continued. "We're going to explore that as well. And during fair time, we'll bring in a modern blacksmith, have him set up there, and let young people see how a blacksmith shop worked in that era."
Wanda Brown said Eickhoff's last words to Bob Bob were, "Do the best you can."
Bob Brown added that Eickhoff knew it would be a complex and enormous job.
Wanda Brown noted that Eickhoff wouldn't let anyone in the shop because he wanted it left like it was.
"He gave the keys to Bob the week before he died," Wanda Brown said.
