Town and Country Antiques building destroyed by fire

Last night, our community experienced another devastating loss due to a fire at the Town & Country Antiques building. Our hearts are absolutely broken for the owners, tenants, and vendors affected by this tragedy. Thankfully, nobody was injured, but there is extensive damage throughout the block, so portions of the road are closed while the crews assess.

A huge thank you to the Menomonie Fire Department, surrounding departments, and so many more community members and businesses who responded to the scene and worked through the night.

To help with the financial burden those affected are facing, we have set up a new fund. All contributions will go toward affected businesses and tenants as they navigate this massive loss.

If you would like to donate, you can do so in one of three ways.

•  Donating through GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/c0d07346

•  Donating through Downtown Menomonie's website: https://www.downtownmenomonie.org/donate 

•  Donating via check. Make checks payable to Downtown Menomonie with the memo "Fire Relief Fund" and deliver or mail to 503 Broadway Street South, Suite #20, Menomonie, WI 54751.

From the Downtown Menomonie Facebook page.

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It is a sad day for all of us at Town & Country Antiques.

My heart goes out to the many people impacted by this fire: our vendors, the owners of the building, the upstairs residents, and the neighboring businesses.

Thank you to the Menomonie Fire Department for your heroic attempt to save the building and to the City of Menomonie and the Menomonie Police Department for your support.

I have been humbled today by all of you who have reached out to me and my family with your kind words, prayers, and support. Menomonie truly is a wonderful community.

Thank you.

Sylvia Gengenbach

From the Town and Country Antiques Facebook page.

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Post from Tim Nelson, owner of American Edge

Hello Menomonie residents,

As many of you know, the 244 Main St building had a tragic fire last night and the building is a total loss. I am the owner of American Edge Real Estate and the property manager for this property. We are truly and deeply saddened by this loss for everyone involved. Thankfully, no tenants were hurt, but the amount of devastation is huge.

I wanted to issue a deep thank you to the Menomonie Fire Department, Menomonie Police Department, the Red Cross (who took such good care of our tenants last night), and every other agency or business that helped last night and today.

We are doing what we can for the tenants of the building, and I also want to thank everyone who has reached out to offer assistance in any way they can. There are some support and donation projects in the works, and I will share those here when they are available. We mourn the loss of the historic building, Town & Country Antiques, and the tenants’ homes, pets, and belongings. Despite the destruction, I’m proud of the Menomonie community for uniting together and helping each other during this tragic time. Thank you.

To all the people that reached out regarding the tenants at the 244 Main St building - thank you for your support. For those of you that would like to donate items to the tenants that have lost their home, we have decided to set up a collection site at the American Edge office, which is located at 700 Wolske Bay Road suite 290 in Menomonie. That’s right next to the library.

There were nine residential tenants that lost all of their personal items. They are all healthy and ok. There were no children living in the building, so children’s items are not needed. If you would like to donate, here is a brief list of things we think the tenants will need.

- socks

- underwear (men and women)

- t shirts (size medium - XXL)

- basic cookware and countertop appliances

- sweatshirts/jackets

- plates and bowls

- razors and shave cream

- spoons, forks, knives

- potentially light furniture (basic chairs, etc) - we have limited storage space

We are open from 8am-5pm tomorrow and 8am-about 2pm on Friday. We will reopen next week on Tuesday at 8am. Our office number is 715-235-7999. Please drop in while we are open if you’d like to donate something. We will be in contact with the tenants to pick things up. Feel free to call with questions. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity.

Hello everyone! I work for American Edge and have contact with all of the tenants from the fire. They are so appreciative of your help.

Here are items and sizes from some of the tenants that they need.

Ladies shirts - medium and extra large

Medium ladies pants or a size 8

XL ladies tops

XL ladies bottoms

Size 18 bottoms

Pet carrier for a cat

Socks and undies same sizes listed above

Sweatshirts

Blankets

Pillows

Microwave

Young mens - tops size medium

Young mens pants medium or 29/32

Womens shoes size 9

This is all I have for now, but they are communicating with me on items.

Thank you Cedarbrook for the totes for each person with toiletries and necessities to get everyone through the next few days.

Thank you to the Stout Women’s Basketball team for their donation of bags for each tenant!!!

We love our community and are overwhelmed with the amount of people that have reached out!