On the morning of Dec. 15, a fire from an electrical accident spread across the first floor of the building that was home to Falkenhan’s Hardware on the corner of Chestnut Avenue and West 34th Street.

Every floor was left unusable — the second used for storage, another tenant space in the back and the basement, where the hardware store operated.

In the days after the fire, a message, written in pink chalk, was left on the sidewalk in front of the business:

“My house really misses you.”

Hampden has been hit especially hard by fires in recent years.

In October 2024, a set of homes on Keswick Road caught fire and killed a married couple. That December, another six homes that were vacant were also ablaze.

One tore through the roof and businesses in the historic, Victorian-style building in Hampden known as “The Castle” last month. Now, after a fire devastated Falkenhan’s Hardware, a nostalgic staple, the community hopes this is the end of the trail of ashes.

Hampden’s beloved store has outlived its competitors.

J. P. Benson and Sons, another family-owned shop on West 36th Street, closed in 1994 after 127 years in business, and Sirkis Paint and Hardware on Falls Road ceased in 2016 after 94 years.

Like all hardware stores, Falkenhan’s had an expansive stock of the basics. But community members also remember it for being the place you go when you want help from someone you trust.

“You could get lost for hours in there,” said Dawn Bentz, operations manager at Abbott Brothers Plumbing and Heating. “But the people who work there know exactly [where things are]. As soon as you walk in the door, whether it be Debbie [Falkenhan] or one of the boys, they could walk right to it.”

Frank Falkenhan, a master plumber and Baltimore native, opened Falkenhan’s Hardware in 1968. He ran it for 20 years before selling the hardware store in 1988 to Ken and Earl Klock. The Klocks changed the name to Klock’s Hardware and closed it nearly 10 years later.

At her father’s request, Deborah Falkenhan, better known as “Deb” and “Debbie,” stepped in to take over the hardware store, and “fit right into his shoes,” Bentz said. Tyler Falkenhan, Debbie’s son, is next in line to run the business.

Debbie Falkenhan stood across the street from her building on that chilly Monday morning, watching as firefighters worked to save as much of it as possible. They tore through the walls to contain the flames and dumped hundreds of gallons of water that froze as it poured onto the streets.

Friends and Hampden residents hugged and cried with her. Some even set up a coffee station to stay warm as they watched for hours.

She wasn’t ready to talk to reporters that day and hasn’t responded to requests for interviews since. Falkenhan wrote in a Facebook post on Dec. 19 that there’s extensive smoke and water damage to the basement level, and the first-floor ceiling is completely gone.

“I am overwhelmed with the outpouring of assistance to help in any way,” she wrote.

The fire also consumed Frank Falkenhan’s former office, she wrote. His daughter is hopeful that any remaining family history stored in the office space can be found and saved.

Those who knew her personally recalled the devastation of losing a fixture of their community.

Seeing the fire on television that morning brought Joyce Trigger to tears. Trigger has run a pit beef business for more than 30 years, and spent the last seven operating outside of Falkenhan’s Hardware on Saturdays.

Falkenhan’s Hardware “meant so much to that neighborhood, not just for nuts, bolts, hammers, screws or whatever, but it was for chatting. It was for [learning] how to fix something,” Trigger said.

A lot of that is thanks to Falkenhan, who’s been described as a pillar of the community and generous with her time and money. She’s started fundraisers, pitched in for pool parties at the nearby Roosevelt Park, preserved local artist Jim Pollock’s hubcap Christmas tree after he died and sponsored the Mayor’s Christmas Parade in Hampden more times than can be counted on two hands.

Falkenhan once used her powers to convince John Astin, known for playing Gomez Addams, the patriarch of “The Addams Family,” to be the grand marshal of the parade in 2010.

Trigger lost a couple of tables, a cooler and signs in the fire that were stored in the building’s garage. But the loss of these items is nothing compared to what Debbie Falkenhan lost, she said.

Jonathan Hancock said Falkenhan called to tell him about the fire. His business, Live Well Be Well Integrative Massage and Wellness, was tucked in the back of the Falkenhan’s building for three years. When he arrived at the building, the fire was put out, but smoke continued to rise.

Hancock received knickknacks and memorabilia from clients and neighbors over the years, and kept an ornament of his dog, who died last January. He believes the only things he’ll be able to save are the plants in his former sun-filled wellness center.

“I took a couple of small pieces out, put them in a plastic bag in my trunk and took them home,” he said. “I haven’t been able to eradicate the smell yet.”

It could take at least a year for the building to be rebuilt, Trigger said. In the meantime, she’s looking for a temporary location for her pit beef stand.

Hancock is estimating two to three years and is relocating his business to 911 W. 36th St. in Hampden while he waits.

Longtime customers like Kimberly Lodge will take their business to the local employee-owned ACE Hardware in Waverly while they wait for Falkenhan’s to rebuild, but “definitely not big box [stores],” she said.

“We don’t want to lose Falkenhan’s.”

Banner reporter Lillian Reed contributed to this story.