SmithFly HQ basement plays staring role in a new music video by JT Woodruff of Hawthorne Heights

JT Woodruff, lead singer of the band Hawthorne Heights is about to embark on a solo tour to support his new solo album "Lonesome" due out on 1/27/17. You can pre-order your copy at this link - https://store.invoguerecords.com/

Take a look at the video below and enjoy the creepy basement of SmithFly Headquarters!

 We plan on using the basement space for more photography work in partnership with Tall James from http://www.photosatsix.com/  and maybe even some small social gatherings to celebrate the grand opening of the new shop space, eventually. 

The history of the space is interesting. For most of it's life the building belonged to the Hobart family who at turn of the century allegedly owned a number of farms around the city of Troy and used the building to store and ship produce by loading it directly onto a rail spur along side the building. A local member of the Hobart family told us directly that she can remember melons rolling down chutes into the basement from Water Street.

After the melons, Ed Hobart used it to store massive brass tank parts used in the construction of the M1 Abrams Tank built in in Lima Ohio, by General Dynamics. The massive brass rings he made had very tight engineering tolerances. He told me the basement, with stable temperatures throughout the season, afforded him the perfect place to store the parts. This temperature stability ensured the parts didn't change sizes too much before delivery to the manufacturing facility.  

In the early 1980's Ed Hobart replaced the wooden joists and floors with concrete floors and steel super structure to make it more usable for tool and die work. This concrete and steel build and the thick structural brick along with robust electrical and pneumatic systems means it is the perfect place to expand the growing SmithFly raft building operation. We even have room to grow!

Prior to the Hobart ownership there is some speculation based on documents at the Troy Historical Society that the building was originally built by the Hayner family to store and ship Rye Whiskey, which, if true, would obviously be even a bit more interesting than storing melons, if only slightly. 

Only in Troy Ohio could a guy like me with a tiny little fly fishing business afford to purchase and occupy a building of such quality and integrity. I am truly grateful for the ability to occupy such an amazing building and JT's video certainly highlights it's unique characteristics in an incredibly creative way.