• The R.H. Newell Building is listed in the State and National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property within the Downtown Medina National Historic District.

• Built in 1876 by Jacob Gorton, the R. H. Newell Building was originally desiged for use as a hotel. Within a few years after its construction, the property passed to Elizur Kirke Hart of Albion, New York, a prominent banker and politician, and became known as the Hart House hotel. Mr. Hart is now best known as an early owner and original namesake of "Heart Island" in the Thousand Islands of New York, upon which the famed Boldt Castle now stands.

• In the 1910's, the Hart House was sold to Robert H. Newell, a Medina-born shirt maker. Mr. Newell's company manufactured very high-end shirts for many of the world's most prominent citizens, including John Jabob Astor, Winston Churchill, and numerous U.S. Presidents. In November 2004, after nearly 90 years of operation at the same site, the Robert H. Newell and Company relocated to a more modern facility in Medina, where to this day it continues its century-long shirt-making tradition.

• In March, 2005, the R.H. Newell Building was acquired by reNewell, LLC, a company formed to preserve, restore, and adaptively reuse the building. The Café is the first of several redevelopment projects planned for the building. Future phases of development will focus on the renovation and reuse of second- and third-floor spaces.

In December 2007 a hidden 1918 newspaper connects resident with grandfather at Shirt Factory Cafe

(Click photo for larger image)

DOUG BENZ/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER/

from The Journal-Register January 3, 2008
A close-up photo was taken Wednesday of a newspaper that was placed in a wall in the attic of the Shirt Factory building, on June 8, 1918. The paper, a Rochester Chronicle, is dated June 1, 1918. Shirt Factory Cafe patron Debby Grant Keller’s grandfather, A.W.J. Grant signed and dated the paper above the headline, presumably when it was placed in the wall nearly 90 years ago.
Read the entire Journal Register article here.
Channel 2 WGRZ in Buffalo broadcast a TV segment on Feb. 7, 2008.