By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Like to have an 1894 train car in your back yard? A wooden Indian for your man cave?
The opportunity to own all sorts of memorabilia from the Back 40 Junction in Decatur will be coming up soon.
Wiegmann Auctioneers of Decatur is currently putting together and numbering the enormous amount of contents in the now-closed restaurant for an online auction.
The HiBid process will be used and a Wiegmann spokesman said probably two and maybe three online auctions will be needed to clear out all of the building’s contents, as many as 300 items.
The first auction will go live on Friday, July 10, according to Wiegmann spokesman Trace Melching.
“Down the road” the restaurant equipment may be sold, he noted.
According to GIS information, Azar Inc. of Fort Wayne owns the land on which the building and other contents are situated.
Shawn Heffern of Mid Atlantic Properties in Indianapolis told WZBD.com that “a buyer is under contract to purchase the property.”
The iconic Back 40 closed after last New Year’s Eve.
Owner/operator John Ferrise told WZBD.com at that time that health issues were forcing him to shut down operations.
Ferrise said he had worked at the Back 40 for 27 years, having been initially employed by Azar’s, a longtime corporate owner who purchased the business from founder Clete Miller.
Ferrise said he bought the business in 2020.
SOME HISTORY: The restaurant has been situated on the southwest corner of 13th St. and Washington St./Archbold Road since 1974 and has attracted thousands of visitors from numerous states to eat and to view the myriad of unique additions inside and out.
In the early 1950’s Clete Miller leased a building on the corner off Nuttman and 13th Street (now McDonald’s) which was then called Swearingen Dairy Ice Cream and Malt Shop.
He named it the Fairway Restaurant.
Miller moved the restaurant to its present location, opening in 1974 as the Back 40 Junction.
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