An Iconic Medina Landmark
Just South of Medina Square sits the reinvented Medina Farmers Exchange.
There are a lot of things we could complain about this Fall, but we sure can’t knock the weather.
Seventy degrees in November in Medina is something to cheer about! Yes, I’m going back on the bandwagon to get you out of the house and into some fresh air. But this time it’s not Wooster or Cleveland or even Amish Country… it’s in our own City of Medina.
Let me take you back a few decades to when I was a mere lad growing up in Hinckley, Ohio. Hinckley, in the 60s, was the intersection of State routes 303 and 94 and consisted of a beverage store, gas station, post office, Old Phoenix bank, and the elementary school. Entertainment and shopping was done in the “thriving metropolis” of Medina. I saw my first big screen movie at the Medina Theater; it was Disney’s “Shaggy Dog”. We lived on a farm; and any time we needed feed or some form of grain, dad would pack us kids into the family station wagon and we would head into Medina to visit the Farmers Exchange.
Re-Visiting an Iconic Landmark
I have fond memories of spending time with my dad and siblings in the stacks of grain with the aromatic smells of oats, corn, and various agricultural products permeating my nose once I stepped through the huge front double doors. My dad would always point to the bomb shelter sign (this was the height of the Cold War), as the Exchange housed a bomb shelter in its basement. He’d say, “Here’s where we’ll come if ever attacked!” Scared us kids, but thankfully we never had to use it.
As a child, this edifice of metal and concrete was huge and, with its unique shape and roof lines, was for all the world Medina’s symbol of agriculture in America.
Fast forward to ten years or so ago… Farmers Exchange falls on hard times, owner moves out, building is condemned, and its future very questionable.
Just as our own lives ebb and flow, so too has the life of the Farmers Exchange.
Medina’s Farmers Exchange - an iconic 40,000 square foot building built in 1904 by S.J. Swain - was destroyed by fire in 1915, rebuilt, destroyed by fire again in 1935, rebuilt with solid concrete walls and floors (the first in Medina County), condemned by the city in 2016 and placed in the National Register of Historical Places in 2018 (yet poised to be demolished and removed as a remnant of a past bygone culture)!
Enter Beacon Marshal (an Akron restoration specialist), a Summit Real Estate group, and two local visionaries with a love of agriculture, family values, and preserving Medina’s rich heritage. Jon Stahl had already shown his culinary and architectural creative skills on Medina’s Public Square, as he converted the old Key Bank into Medina’s P.J. Marley’s Restaurant, a culinary sensation, serving craft beers and gourmet, locally-sourced burgers. Teaming up with Kayleigh Keller Sammarco, owner of T.L. Keller Meats of Litchfield (home of locally raised, all natural, custom butchered chicken and livestock) was a natural move that would produce a synergy needed to energize a concept that would save Medina’s iconic landmark.
The opening in February 2020 of the newly restored Farmers Exchange surpassed all expectations of the creative team and was far and away more than an old gal in a new dress.
From the bomb shelter basement to the four corners of the attic, from stem to stern, Medina’s Agricultural icon was restored and given new life as a multi-functional landmark showcasing foods, beverages, and arts and crafts of the Medina area.
The focal point of the Exchange building is the first floor. To the left, with windows on South Court, is Jon Stahl’s restaurant. The Farmer’s Table. This restaurant boasts as varied a menu as any in Northern Ohio! And you know I love to eat. Every piece of meat, vegetable, and fish is the freshest possible and the gourmet preparation of each dish has to be seen to believed. Whether you fancy small plates of smoked wings, kielbasa and homemade kraut, smokehouse platters of beef brisket, grilled Ohio strip steaks, or the ultimate 2-3 pound tomahawk steaks, you must call or stop in over the holidays and do your stomach a favor. All of the meats served come from Keller’s locally raised livestock.
As you walk inside from the restaurant, to the right and the center of the main floor you find yourself in an old-world market with the succulent smells of fresh steaks, chops, and ribs (and yes, you have found Keller Meats!). But it doesn’t stop with just meat. The unique seafood department - with everything from clams to imported salmon from Scotland to lobsters and scallops - can land you just about any seafood you’re craving. And if you don’t see it, Kayleigh can order it.
The newly added gourmet cheese department is just amazing. The cheeses are a mixture of locally produced cheeses, along with European imports. You must try the blueberry lavender soft cheese on crackers; it’s to die for. Keller takes it to the next level, where if you don’t know how to cook something or what to pair it with, just ask. They are more than willing to custom-cut meat for you (I should know, as my son, Steve, is a butcher there; and Gary can help you pair anything with a fine wine). If you’re looking for that special Thanksgiving turkey, they are currently taking orders for locally-sourced free-range birds.
In continuing with my “virtual tour”, before you leave Keller Meats, slowly turn around and you will see a wall of 3 glass coolers holding 25+ varieties of pierogies from Pierogies of Cleveland. As you continue straight ahead, to the right you have reached the 1904 Brews coffee shop and the end of the first floor. Here, the fresh smells of coffees, teas, and sconces permeate the air (and your senses). Sit down and take a load off.
Once rested, you need to go to the North side of the main floor. Here is where the local artists display everything from shirts to shawls to honey to CBD products (too numerous to name here), but very much worth the trip.
The second and third floors are home to eight one-to-two bedroom apartments per floor for a truly unique way to reside in Medina. You may be asking by now, “But what about the bomb shelter?” Yes, the entire basement (with a side door entrance off the East parking lot) is the Medina Brewery. They are a branch of Avon Brewery, from where they currently get their beer until they begin their own on-site brewing this winter. They can handle your birthday parties, Christmas gatherings, or New Year’s shindigs; just give them a call!
As you can see, right in our own backyard sits an iconic symbol of human creativity.
It took a labor of love to preserve a Medina landmark and create a local marketplace similar to those from the days of our parents and grandparents… which reawakens a time when we all cared for each other and we gave a damn.
Have a great weekend Medina County,
- Dr. Pfister