Name/Title
Warner ElevatorEntry/Object ID
2020.1.6_OHDescription
In the late 1990s, Mark and Patsy Bates donated the Bell & Bates Building to the Gadsden Arts Center (later the Gadsden Arts Center & Museum), providing a beautiful and historic space in downtown Quincy to house the Center’s galleries and educational spaces. Bell & Bates was, and still is, Gadsden county’s oldest privately owned hardware store founded in 1902. The Warner Freight Elevator has been a part of this building’s infrastructure since 1912. It is powered with manual labor using a rope and pulley system and requires little maintenance. If the rope slipped off the pulley, a broomstick with a hook attached was used to pull the rope back through.
Bell & Bates Hardware Store owner Mark Bates recalls a story his father, George Bates, told him regarding an elevator inspection: “When a state elevator inspector in the 1960s asked who was doing the maintenance, George responded “an old Navy man.” The answer satisfied the inspector, and there seemed to be no need to tell him that “the old Navy man” was George Bates himself.”
This relic of innovation was manufactured by Warner Elevator Company founded in 1860 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It’s estimated that Warner Co. sold 16,000 elevators before merging their company with Shepard Elevator Co. in 1955. This elevator in Bell & Bates remained in service until 2002 when the Florida licensing law was changed, making it financially prohibitive to keep it licensed and inspected. The freight elevator remains a popular focal point in the Zoe Golloway Gallery.Collection
Organizational History CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2020.1Source or Donor
Mr. and Mrs. Mark W. BatesAcquisition Method
GiftCreated By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
August 6, 2020