Maple Place Inc

Maple Place Inc. has one primary goal: restore, preserve, and maintain the history and historic structure of the former Connor Lumber and Land Company Store with regard to its historic significance for Laona. As a result, we have also developed some secondary goals, which involve: creation of usable space for potential new businesses, developers, and community members; job creation and job growth, which will also result in economic growth and development as well as community growth and development; community-accessible space through restoration of a publicly-accessible ballroom for community events; creation and implementation of a courtyard with community gardens, which will benefit not only the local community but the local food pantries and shelters as well; and creation of a central historic space that will allow for increase in economic growth, drawing from surrounding areas.

Our primary strategy for achieving both primary and secondary goals begins with the total restoration and preservation of the former Connor Lumber and Land Company Store. Once the building has been restored and regained complete functionality, it will enable Maple Place Inc. to begin the process of managing and allocating space for potential businesses.

Once restored, Maple Place Inc. will help promote and encourage development to return to Laona by showcasing the restored space, which will be move-in-ready. To date, there are ten potential businesses and organizations that have expressed interest in renting space from the restored building; Maple Place Inc. is helping to foster this interest by continually displaying restoration progress of the building to involve not only these prospective businesses but to involve the community as well in the process - keeping community interest in mind is one of the pillars of our organization.

Currently, Maple Place Inc.'s capabilities are limited to a volunteer staff. Our volunteer staff consists of community members, as well as members of the Maple Place Inc. board of directors, who attend our clean-up days. Most of the restoration work with regard to demolition is currently being carried out by the building owner to help the organization prepare for restoration work once additional funding is allocated.

To date, Maple Place Inc. has reopened the original flooring on roughly two-thirds of the building's original first floor. Our organization has also helped foster a sense of community pride by helping co-host events with the Laona Area Chamber of Commerce inside the front portion of the building, which allows the community to physically view the restoration work that we have currently accomplished. In addition, we have also re-opened both the west and central first floor portions of the building and have allowed the public to view our progress through ongoing tours, restoration talks, and social media postings. Our next steps are to complete and file the nomination paperwork for the State and National Registries of Historic Places to permanently list the building as a historic site; complete false wall and false floor removal on the building's first floor; complete removal of drop ceiling apparatus on the building's first floor; complete removal of false walls on the building's second floor; and begin the process of restructuring all interior primary systems, including heat, water, and electricity.