Not one negative comment. That’s when she knew she had something special.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a post in [Brown County Chatter Facebook Group] that’s not got a negative comment,” said Kirstie Tiernan, the principal of BDO Digital and visionary of The STEAMery.

STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, but it was technology that came first for Tiernan. She saw first hand the lack of women in her profession and sought out ways to keep women in the field. With her kids in elementary school she saw the need for better equipment and went searching.

 

Little did she know she would be led to one of the most influential buildings in Brown County history, and one that of course, via a trail, connected to the elementary school.

The building was the old sock factory. Sharon Rivenbark’s For Bare Feet sock company to be exact. She built it up to be licensed by all four major American sports leagues, the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.

“She did a lot of things that were really pretty incredible. She brought fiber optic service to the county, to a rural county. Helmsburg actually has a sewer system, which is very unusual for rural communities,” said David Watters, who bought the building from the county in 2013 after Rivenbark donated it.

Watters also owns the Beamery, and its offices lie right next door to the old sock factory, or what could become The Steamery. 

His company is one of very few that still uses the timber framing technique when constructing, a practice that is built on wood-to-wood connections.

As Watters says, “there isn’t a nail in it.” 

He hadn’t gotten much use out of the old sock factory after initially wanting to use it as a training ground. 

“I’ve always felt that our school system has unfortunately recently failed in training people in the trades,” said Watters.

While it had been vacant for over a decade, several tenants of Watters suggested tearing down the mezzanine level, however he continually refused believing it could be used for something.

He was right.

When Tiernan got in touch with Watters the two set up a tour and upon walking in the front door, Tiernan’s vision came to life. She walked around the property in awe, already with models in mind for the bigger technology lab to come. However, there was space for more. There was enough space for ceramics, arts, culinary, music and e-gaming labs as well. 

Watters provided the space and Tiernan the vision, bringing Watters old mission of using the property to train the trades, a reality. 

However, it isn’t a reality just yet. As a matter of fact, they haven’t secured enough seed funding to begin the major construction process.

But that’s what Erika Albert does. Albert is the senior director of major and principle giving with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is another way of saying she secures quite a lot of funding.

And with regard to The Steamery, she’s going about it, in the same way she, Tiernan and others got inspired to be involved, by bringing them to the front door. 

“We really like to bring people here, and we like to see and we like to kind of have them feel what we did when we first walked into this building and saw what could be, and when people get excited they want to be involved themselves,” said Albert.

She has already made several key partnerships, one of them being with Indiana University. And while the physical building is in limbo, the heart of the project keeps pumping. The Steamery offers virtual classes in each of the concentrations they plan on having a lab for. 

According to Tiernan, it is all about bringing the community together and creating opportunities for the future generations.

When asked for one word to describe what The Steamery and its impact on Brown County, Watters simply said, “exciting.”