Reclaimed Fort Wayne brings history to your home and is Positively Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – You could say Chuck and Lyndsey Springer are preservers of the past. The husband and wife team own Reclaimed Fort Wayne just north of downtown, where a labyrinth of antiques is situated inside a 12,000 square-foot warehouse.

The Springers bought the inventory from the Wood Shack and officially opened their doors in the fall of 2019 at the corner of Saint Joseph Boulevard and Tennessee Avenue as
Reclaimed Fort Wayne.

“We’re the only antique architectural salvage business in the area,” said Chuck Springer. “It’s unique to Fort Wayne.”

Just as the name implies, they find a lot of their one-of-a-kind pieces from historic homes, schools, churches, and other buildings set to be demolished.

“Every house is different, every house has something unique, so it’s always fun to walk in to see what’s there and what we can save,” said Springer.

Inside Reclaimed Fort Wayne, you can find just about anything saved by the Springers.

“There’s just endless stories. The more you walk around, the more you see. Anywhere from an 1850’s home up to a mid-century house. We have a little bit of history for everyone. Old doors, built-in cabinets, stained glass windows, hardware, just general antiques.”

Springer says they do between six and twelve salvage projects a year, both big and small. They were able to save pieces from homes and businesses being torn down for riverfront development in Fort Wayne, like a lift gate and doors from Shaab Metals. They also salvaged pieces ahead of demolition for the Electric Works project.

When asked why it’s important to save historic pieces, Springer said “It’s a passion of ours. The more we do it, the more I see how well-built things are, the craftmanship that was done back then. We pull out a lot of woodwork and on the backside we’ll see the signatures from the carpenters that built the home and buildings, so the pride of workmanship.”

Springer also enjoys interacting with the customers who walk in their shop for the first time.

“It’s fun because we hear people before we see them. So we can hear their reactions and it always puts a smile on my face. ‘Oh wow, look at that!'” said Springer. “We get a lot of people from Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, we ship all over the U.S. as well, it’s neat to get to know those people and hear what projects they have going on.”

While doors are seemingly the most popular item people shop for, Springer says they get a good mix of people restoring new homes and building new homes who want to find something unique that can add character to their homes.

“They want an old door for their pantry, or an old bar that they can incorporate in to add that touch of character.”

Reclaimed Fort Wayne is open Thursday through Sunday. You can learn much more about the business and see some of the current inventory on the website .

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