By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Work to prepare for a new awning at County Seat Decorating Center yielded an unexpected boon when owners Jeannie and Brad Wildin discovered the name of a prior business, John Ehrlich and Sons, painted on the front of the building.

Jeannie was scraping loose paint down from a metal plate Saturday and Brad could see the name “John Ehrlich and Sons.”

The Ehrlich family operated a dry goods store in the 1877 J. C. Mehl building around the year 1903.

The store was sold in 1914 to the owners of Alexander-Long Mercantile Co. of Council Grove.

The work is being done to prepare the building for a new black fabric awning with the name and address of the business on it.

The Wildins spent Saturday painting upper story window covers black and scraping to prepare for the new awning that will coordinate with new black street light poles and benches that were installed last summer as a part of the city’s $1 million downtown renovation.

“Basically what we’re doing now is getting ready to put the new awning up,” Jeannie Wildin said.

The existing metal awning was damaged last summer and needed to be replaced.

The awning company will remove the existing steel awning and install the new one in three to four weeks, Wildin said.

She made use of the steel awning as a painting platform while she could.

“I wanted to get painting done while I still had it,” Wildin said.

Eventually, the Wildins will replace green Venetian glass on the sides of the building, and repaint window covers on the east side.