Don’t say Esther and Mike Saltijeral’s idea for an ice cream parlor in one of Aurora’s oldest buildings is gold.
Because everything about Charlie’s Silver Spoon Creamery is silver – the same silverplate that was manufactured in the Aurora Silverplate Manufacturing Co. building at Downer Place and Stolp Avenue downtown as far back as 1869.
With Friday’s grand opening and ribbon-cutting at noon at the creamery, the long-shuttered building is reborn as an historic nod toward Aurora’s future.
“Once we got the building, I started reading up on the history of it,” Esther Saltijeral says. “I had newspaper clippings going back to the 1800s. I thought, how do I incorporate the silver?”
The Saltijerals have incorporated the silverplate manufacturing history of the building throughout, from silverplate items on display to historic photos of the intersection to a large sign on the front facing Downer — larger than the sign for the ice cream business, in fact — declaring that the Aurora Silverplate Manufacturing Co. building, which predates the company by at least 10 years, lives again.
“It has a really awesome story,” says Saltijeral.
And the story of how the Saltijerals came to own the building and turn it into an ice creamery is pretty awesome too.
It grew out of a catechism class Esther and Mike taught at their church. The class included kids from seven different schools, including Rosary, Aurora Central, East and West Aurora high schools and others. The kids “became really good friends,” Esther said, and when the classes ended, they wanted a place to get together and talk.
Meanwhile, the Saltijerals had been eyeing the historic building at Downer and Stolp. Esther grew up on Downer across from Waldo Middle School, and because her mother did not drive, she would bring the kids on long walks along Downer through downtown when she had to do her banking at Old Second National Bank.
In 2017, the Saltijerals contacted the owner of the Silverplate building, who did not have the building up for sale, and after several months convinced him to sell.
At first, the Saltijerals thought about opening a coffeehouse, but realized there are already several downtown, including Tredwell Coffee just across the street. So, an ice cream parlor it was.
But that didn’t satisfy Esther. She not only wanted to serve ice cream, she wanted it to be homemade. So, she studied up on how to make ice cream, and some of her recipes incorporate items such as goat cheese and yogurt, as well as more traditional ingredients.
“I decided I’d learn how to do it,” she says.
The renovation of the building not only includes the ice creamery, but some large apartments on the second and third floor. Esther says the apartments are “really nice.”
“You should see the view from the third floor,” Mike says.
The Aurora Silverplate Manufacturing Co. was one of Aurora’s first big businesses, directed by many of the city’s pioneer businessmen, including Joseph Stolp himself. It was one of the most prosperous businesses in town for 40 years, employing as many as 200.
In 1871, the original wood building burned down. It was rebuilt as brick and limestone, but part of the building burned down again in 1922. What remains is what the Saltijerals renovated into Charlie’s Silver Spoon Creamery.
In addition to ice cream, the basement will become a wine room for tasting and purchase, although the Saltijerals will not own that business. Both the wine room and the ice creamery eventually will have outdoor places on the east side of the building too.
Not only have the Saltijerals brought another destination point to downtown Aurora that ties in nicely with the city’s entertainment district theme, they have created some history of their own.
Esther said that within the time since the renovation started, at least four people have inquired about buying the building. But after consulting with their three children, the family had a stock answer.
“Absolutely not,” Esther says. “‘We didn’t do this for the money. We wanted to create a destination for people to come to. This will be our family’s legacy.”
slord@tribpub.com
