Framing history for the public

Society creates displays of buildings’ histories for owner

By Maria Lockwood mlockwood @superiortelegram.com

The historic beginnings of two Superior businesses were put under scrutiny this winter. The end result: two panels featuring the background of the Badger Building and its neighbor, 1228 Banks, which houses Studio One Photography, will soon be on display.

Matt Cich, who owns the buildings under the business name JB Build- ing LLC, said JoAnn Jardine of Studio One gave him the idea for the panels. She shared with him a story she’d seen about the 1228 Banks property online, a “slice of history” post from the Douglas County Historical Society.

“I thought, ‘That’s cool; maybe they have something about the Badger Building.’ So I went over to the historical society,” Cich said.

“I thought maybe if I had a couple of boards made up of the building and hung them up inside there, it would be kind of nice for the people coming in the building.”

It was a new request for the historical soci- ety, but one business manager Jon Winter embraced. The research staff dug into the buildings’ histories and their different incarnations.