Rustic store grabs attention
HARRISVILLE — In a town comprised mostly of houses, the rustic appearance and water tower of the Tinker's Dam along Main Street is quite the looker.
Ken Beatty, whose wife, Jackie Beatty, owns the store, bought the building with his wife in 1985 when she wanted to expand the business. At the time, they owned only one store in Slippery Rock.
The Tinker's Dam sells flowers, candles, greeting cards and other gifts. Jackie Beatty bought the business in 1977.
“I always liked Harrisville and thought it would be nice to be up there,” she said.
She was looking at three buildings in Harrisville for the shop.
Before it was renovated, her building was a plain concrete. The walls inside already were wood paneled. Ken Beatty said the building originally housed a business that sold tombstones and monuments.
“It needed a lot done on it,” he said, including hot water, air conditioning and new wiring.
The rustic decoration and prominent roof shingles of the building came about because Jackie Beatty said she was interested in having it appear like a building in the television show “Petticoat Junction.”
“I wanted something that looked nice. Something to enhance Harrisville,” she said.
The water tower that is behind the building came from Liberty Township, Mercer County. Ken Beatty said it was put up in 1917 and supplied water to a farm and the first bathroom in the township.
Beatty paid $200 for the tower, but it took $1,000 to move it and $1,000 to renovate it.“People were standing all around to watch it (be installed),” he said.The weather vane on the roof was bought from a man who he knew specialized in weather vanes and lightning rods.Ken Beatty also did most of the landscaping.There used to be a wooden wagon out front, but it was so old that it “disintegrated” from exposure.In the late 1980s, a small fire occurred in the building. Lightning struck it and the spark traveled through the wiring and sparked an outlet. The building was so airtight that the fire put itself out, although there was some minor damage.Although opening up a second store was something of a risk, Jackie Beatty said the Harrisville store helps bring additional business to the company from Grove City and other areas north of the county line.More than 25 years after the store opened, Ken Beatty shares his wife's enthusiasm for Harrisville, appreciating its fortitude in a rough economy.“For a little town to hang on like that the way things are today is pretty tough,” he said.
