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One can only imagine the stories behind the artifacts at Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage. The imagination conjures all sorts of scenarios …

Chaim Goldman’s Aunt Tzeitel pinches his cheek and calls him a “mensch” after he shows her the sign he had painted after completing semicha and becoming a rabbi.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Eastern Europe, Aleksei Sytsevich seeks absolution for his wicked deeds in a tiny confessional – at least he thinks they were wicked.

They were nothing compared to the evil afoot in Miss Sobolik’s third-grade class at Webster Elementary School in Cherokee, Iowa, where Teddy Wulfekuhler dips Wanda Higginbotham’s pigtails in his inkwell.

I have no idea what the real stories are behind the school desk, confessional and sign. Those are just some of the novellas I write in my head as I gaze at the bits, pieces and treasures at Aurora Mills. Owner Mike Byrnes likes inspiring visitor’s imaginations.

“It’s all about storytelling and evoking emotions,” he said.

Byrnes spends his life picking up pieces of buildings that other people have discarded. Yes, that includes an Eastern European confessional. His store in Aurora (24 miles south of Portland) sells everything from doors and molding to doorknobs and light switches. The rare stuff – the cool stuff – is kept up front.

“We’re not a typical antique business,” Byrnes said. “We’re more of a hybrid. We don’t pick things on whether or not they’re high end. We go for unusual and rare items – things that might be common in another part of the country but rare here in Oregon.”

At any given moment, his showroom might include random nameplates from a forgotten office (just in case your name happens to be “Otto Fishbine” and you need a new desk sign) or a card catalog from an old library.

“We go after the ‘wow’ value,” Byrnes said. “We want people to walk into the store and say, ‘Wow! That’s so cool!’ We want stuff that represents a different time.”

Architects and decorators generally go wild in the store. There is something for every geeky taste – even an old printer’s ruler from a New York newspaper for someone who, say, happens to be a journalism geek. It is definitely cool. However, is it $100 worth of cool? It’s hard to say.

“It’s about knowing the market,” Byrnes said. “The market ebbs and flows. It flows depending on what’s hot. There’s a fair amount of research that goes into it. There’s also a lot of intuition. The bottom line is something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.”

Trends and fads change every three to six months, he added.

“We’re starting to see significant changes in the market,” he said. “Interior decorators, designers, architects – these are the people who set the trends.”

A friend told me about Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage several years ago. Now I go once or twice a year to wallow in it like Scrooge McDuck in his money vault. I desperately want the old card catalog. It might not be much use as anything other than the world’s biggest spice rack, but I nonetheless covet it.

Byrnes banks on rank sentimentalists
like me who are suckers for remnants of the past and the stories they tell. That’s why he dangles the most enticing items right in front of our noses.

“We’re not a museum; we’re a business,” he said. “We have to move the merchandise. It’s in our best interest to have it where you can’t ignore it, where it will call to you and tempt you beyond reason.”

The place attracts more than us old squares.

“Industrial chic is very hot right now,” Byrnes said. “That includes the metal items, but it really represents anything that speaks to America’s prowess in manufacturing. Steampunk is part of it, but it’s much broader than steampunk. It’s such an eclectic aesthetic. The people who are decorating with this are very creative.”

Byrnes opened the store in 1999, drawing from his experience in the construction industry.

“I’ve been in the contracting business for 35 years, so I know a lot of people in the field – people who demolish buildings, people who build buildings,” he said. “I’m constantly building new relationships. There’s no one real source for it.

“That’s what makes it fun,” he said. “You have to hunt to hunt things down.”

The building itself is historic. It was used for hop storage for a local beer maker before becoming a grain mill and seed mill.

Aurora itself comes with a fascinating story. It was originally a utopian religious colony founded in 1856 by Dr. William Keil. The colony’s theology was a mixture of German Lutheranism, pietism and revival Methodism and built on the philosophy that people live communally and share everything.

I first learned of Aurora when I was the editor of the Woodburn Independent. I soon learned that it provided a never-ending stream of stories, old and new. For all the times I have browsed at Aurora Mills, I don’t remember ever buying anything.

Most of the things I want (and they are legion) are beyond my price range. A lot of people come in and dicker over prices. Byrnes admitted that he usually is open to negotiations.

Others can wheel and deal. I go more for the stories than the merchandise.

I particularly like the story of Abraham Lincoln. A practically life-size wood carving of Lincoln has stood vanguard over the entrance to the store since I started visiting. Byrnes explained that he found the statue – a remnant from an amusement park in Massachusetts in the 1920s – standing in a farmer’s field.

Abe is always there to greet visitors. And don’t worry. Byrnes said the 16th president is not going anyway.

“It’s such a rare and unusual piece of carving (that) I have to keep it,” he said. “I can’t bring myself to sell it.”

“Building Curiosity” investigates intriguing, historical and obscure tidbits of the built environment. Tom Henderson is a reporter for the Daily Journal of Commerce. Contact him at 503-802-7226 or [email protected].