COOPERTOWN

Butch Welch feels he’s been doing his father’s penance. And how.
When Alva Welch – that’s Butch’s real name, too – was operating the Chevy dealership at 21 Railroad Ave., he met a salesman peddling that awful asphalt siding. You know the stuff.
So he approached the folks at Harrison’s Feed Store, where the Agway annex is now at Railroad and Leatherstocking. Yes, they’d be interested in siding their building.
Spurbeck’s owners would, too. Also members of The Improved Order of Redmen; their lodge was at 5 Railroad Ave.
“Dad talked them all into it,” said the son. “He was a good salesman.”
Alva Welch then asked his new salesman friend for an estimate.
What if you did a second building as well?
The salesman cut the price.
How about a third?
Another cut.
A fourth? Sure.
Butch Welch remembers his father coming home (the family lived in the former stone passenger depot, behind Bruce Hall’s) the day the deal was hatched.
“It’s going to be a neat street,” he said.
“A neat street,” the son repeated ruefully.
He’s thought about that episode quite a bit in recent years, after buying 5 Railroad – the big red building north of Spurbeck’s, the former Redmen’s hall – in 2002, with plans to convert the upper two floors into five apartments for the 55+ crowd, and retail or office space on the ground floor.
The first job – daughter Molly recruited friends Jeff Smith and Whitney Martens to help – was to tear off that awful siding.
“You expect to atone for your own sins,” Butch reflected. “But you don’t expect to atone for the sins of your father.”
Many toils followed, some financial, others structural, but the job – who hasn’t been dragging an eye on driving by over the past six years – it just about done.
All the sills had to be replaced. There was a 5 ½-inch bow in the south side.
“That east wall,” said Butch, “didn’t have one – not one – continuing stud between any of the floors. Not one.”
That wall had to be completely rebuilt.
Since plans are to rent the six apartments – four are two bedroom; two are one bedroom – to a crowd far enough along that no one will be blasting rock and roll into the wee hours, an elevator was installed as well.
Twice, worked stopped to allow financing to catch up. The Welches sold 27 Railroad; work started again. Butch turned 62, and was able to access his Roth IRA without penalty.
Welch expects the job to be done by Sept. 1.
The other day, Butch was installing appliances in a second-floor apartment. Son Tyler, who’s helping his dad with the final push, was making sure the windows were working fine on the third floor. Kevin Shulgay of Schenevus was packing tools in his pickup after a long day.
Butch – he and wife Mary live at 25 Railroad – has already rented one of the apartments, pending the COA, and four more are available. (With a two-year waiting list at Cooper Apartments, they should go quickly.)
A land surveyor and an Internet company have sounded him out on the 2,000 square feet on the ground floor.
The hardwood floors were installed by the Redmen in the 1950s, long enough ago so they have that vintage feeling. The windows, though new, follow the outlines of older ones, big enough so the building’s bright throughout.
All new appliances, carpet, paint – you name it. John Edgington – his carpentry skills are legendary in these parts – joined Butch’s effort in December, a suggestion of the quality of the near-complete job.
The building dates back to 1897 and was originally a hop house. Farmers would bring in their crops. The traders would buy the hops, sort the crop, then carry the bales across the street to the freight depot, where the DO Railroad is today.
When Butch was a boy he used to walk past the building daily en route back and forth to school at Glen and Chestnut, where the Cooper Apartments are now.
When he got back from the University of Georgia, he “wanted to use the skills I’d developed in college,” so he joined the Redmen – the lodge and the Mohican Club next to the Cooperstown Diner were the only establishments in town at the time with pool tables.
The Redmen are still extant, but the local lodge expired four decades ago. For 35 years, various auto-parts establishments were located there. When Butch and Mary bought it, there was a lot of shelving and tons of trash that had to be removed before renovations could begin in earnest.
Butch isn’t quite done, but he’s already itchy.
“It’s a strange feeling,” he said. “I was sitting the other day and suddenly thought to myself, ‘Gee, I’m going to be out of a job soon’.”
Next? He’ll be redoing an old home out in Middlefield for his retirement.


Tyler Welch makes sure the front windows on the third-floor apartment at 5 Railroad Ave. are functioning smoothly.

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