The Old Amston Silver Company Becoming a Brewery?

Featured in the above picture is an old recognizable building ("The Silver Company") that has been sitting on the edge of Route 85 in Amston, heading toward Colchester.  This building has been sitting empty for awhile now, but rumors are it is soon to become a brewery.

The fact that a truck has recently been left there and the "for sale" realty sign has been damaged (when it recently wasn't) can imply something to come into this building.

Some know the building as The Silver Company.  Others know it as the antique place, the Treasure Factory, or Schaeffer Plastics Manufacturing.  Whatever the case may be, it is mostly recently known as the rundown deserted brick building on route 85.  No one has been there for awhile, so it came by surprise that it had been bought and is becoming a brewery.

A shot from afar- a back portion of the building is open and being worked on

The building's history is quite astounding, because so many businesses were held in this brick building.  Contrary to popular belief, this building was not the automobile shop known as Ams Sterling Place.  Ams Sterling was located in Hebron, farther south on Lake Road.  Some may have also gotten confused by the name, thinking that "Sterling" meant "silver" as in The Silver Company.  The two names were both companies in Hebron of similar name, which could be why they became confusing.  But Ams Sterling (according to sources) went out of business in the early 1900's (roughly between 1910 and 1927), which was just around or before this brick building was even built. What was even more confusing was that, according to Facebook posts from Hebron citizens, automobiles and trucks were held in this building at one time, under Bill Leary's company called Leary Transportation.

As you can see by the stairs on the side, the building has multiple levels

So what is the history of this building?  There is a lot of debate as to the historical accuracy of this building, but I will do my best to correctly convey the information that has been shared through several Hebron and Amston residents on Facebook.  many of these residents have been involved in the building at some point in their lives, whether it was their parents who passed down stories or had other relatives involved.  I do my best to tell what I've heard and piece together the stories to truly understand the history of the building.

According to Hebron citizens, the initial development was a "wood frame building company that produced window and sash moldings" before becoming a grain mill after 1922.  After this point, the building was sold to Philip Gross and Anna Zablotsky in 1925, who transferred half of the ownership to their daughter Sadie Turshen in 1926.  The original building burned down in 1927, and Sadie's husband, Ira (who was a Russian Jewish immigrant) rebuilt the site in fire-resistant brick.  From then on, Izzy Turshen (as I'm assuming was Ira), housed his general store and building supply businesses in the brick building.  Some have claimed that Izzy used a lot of recycled materials to put the building together.  According to sources, the building contains three enormous steel beams on the side, which were originally part of a bridge.

Some sources indicated that the building had run as a mill, titled "Amston Grain Mill."  This mill may have been in conjunction or part of Izzy's general store, as Journal Inquirer acknowledges in its article that it was once the "Turshen Mill" (source: https://www.journalinquirer.com/towns/hebron/hebron-looks-to-redevelop-former-turshen-mill/article_93f65d9e-ef7f-11e5-ba43-e3cb422d29dc.html).  When Izzy Turshen died, Mrs. Turshen sold the building was sold to Ellmore Silver Company in 1946/7.  Ellmore Silver Company was founded in 1910 and was originally out of Meriden.  It is assumed that the names Ellmore Silver Company and Amston Silver Company are the same.  The Ellmore Silver Company produced silver plate wares until 1961.

These items were made at the Ellmore Silver Company and are displayed in museums and sold in auctions (https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21642/lot/1070/).

After the Ellmore Silver Company, the building was known to be home to a lot of different businesses.  Some of these businesses were claimed to have existed at the same time since the building had multiple levels.  The timeline is as follows:

• Leary Transportation in the 60's and 70's.  According to sources, Leary ran the trucking company out of the lower level of the building.  He hauled steel out of Jones and Loughton's Steel in Willimantic.  Bill Leary rented out the upper section to the Caron Bros, Joe, Emile, & Adrian a local construction company who built many homes all over Hebron.
• Blue and yellow kayak-like boats, as well as paddle boats were made under a Mr. Patton somewhere between the 60's and 70's.  Some sources claimed it was early 60's while others said late 70's, so it could have been in the span of twenty years.
• Sources claimed that Schaeffer Plastics Manufacturing occupied the building at the same time as Joe Hnat's Hnat Mold and Die.  Additionally, Sabrina Pools made hot tubs in the lower section.
• At one point, the upper level was used as a car club.
• Another source mentioned that it was the Treasure Factory 25 years ago, a company that sold furniture and antiques in a flea market type setting.   This has also been confirmed by the above Journal Inquirer link.  This took place during the mid-90's (94-95).
• For the last fifteen years or so, the building has remained vacant and has eerily looked like a haunted house out of a Halloween movie.

This info has been gathered from Hebron and Amston residents.  Admittedly, some information may be inaccurate or may be lost to the building's changing property owners and abandonment over the last fifteen years.  What we do know today is that the building looks like it needs a lot of work with reconstruction, especially after being abandoned and sitting empty for at least a decade.  Pictured below, you will see a large image of the building with damaged windows.  Additionally, if you look close enough in the second photo, you will see a damaged section with the words "Keep Out" in blue ink.  The dilapidated building is certainly not in the greatest condition and will need work before it opens up again as a brewery.

Who knows when the building will be open for business.  One thing for sure is that the building needs a lot of work and renovations before it becomes a brewery.  I was selfishly hoping they would turn it into a Halloween-style brewery, just to keep the same eerie feeling, though I would certainly appreciate if the new owners held onto the history of the building so that they would be able to talk about all the places this building once was.

If you have any history about the building or any stories you'd like to share about the building that hasn't been mentioned (or that adds historical value), please comment on this blog page.  Additionally, you can contact me at hebronmapleleaf@gmail.com to share your story.  We would love to hear from you and add to this great story.