Preserving the past while helping her clients prepare for the future — It’s a business plan that works well for Kaila Cota, who owns and operates Vintage Insurance Agency LLC in Lena.
What makes her business stand out isn’t the policies she prepares or the one-on-one service she provides her customers. It’s the agency’s location that makes it unique.
After deciding against opening her new business venture 12 years ago in a vacant building that used to house a bakery on Lena’s Main Street, Cota opted to set up shop a century-old barn on South Rosera Street less than a block south of the village’s main intersection.
“It was farmed by the Rosera family,” she said. “It was an actual dairy farm. There is still (Rosera) family in the area, and they come in and tell stories about when they had to clean the barn.”
According to information Cota was able to find, cows were milked on the farm until 1979 and heifers were raised in the barn until 1990. Fred Rosera built a home that went with the farm in 1901. That house, at 206 S. Rosera St., is still a private residence and has been separated from the barn for years by a Prevea Health medical clinic.
“I started my own insurance agency in 2014,” Cota said. “I was born and raised here just out of town on a dairy farm. I wanted to be on Main Street and wanted to be in the old bakery (building). I remember going to the bakery as a kid. At that time, it was vacant and needed a lot of work. My dad was like, ‘I just don’t think that’s going to be suitable.’ He said, ‘Let’s go look at (the barn).’
“My heart was set over there, that’s where I wanted to be. My vision of it was I was going to have a small office front and never thought at that point that I would bring all my antiques and decorate with them to make it all coordinated together.”
She recalled walking into the barn for the first time.
“As soon as I walked in, I knew there could be life in this,” she said. “We did the carpet, painted and had to fix some of the windows.”
The barn was vacant at the time after the owners of the pellet stove store retired.
“It was pretty much storage for them at that point,” Cota said. “I came in and as soon as I opened the door, I knew it was home to my business. Coming from the farm, it kind of keeps the country life going.”
She eventually purchased the barn in 2015.
“It’s the big red barn,” she said. “That’s all I have to say. Everybody says, ‘OK, I know where that is.’”
Cota knew about the barn while growing up in the area.
“I knew it was here but never really knew anything about it,” she said. “I went past it every day growing up. I never said, ‘One day, I’m going to own that.’”
The display room includes memories of Lena’s first 150 years, including toys, appliances, clothing and more.
“Growing up out on the farm, my grandpa used to go to a lot of auctions and get the dollar box,” Cota said. “I always picked out stuff and saved stuff, and that’s how I got collecting. A lot of it was never on display.”
The display room is tied to Cota’s business, which was her plan from the beginning.
“They come in to reminisce and say, ‘Oh, I had this as a kid,’ or ‘Oh, I remember that,’” she said. “It’s kind of a cool centerpiece. People walk in the door and they’re not expecting that. Just watching my clients walk in that have never been here before is and seeing their face is probably the biggest thing. I just love it.”
Cota’s business doesn’t take up a lot of room in the barn. She has a desk in the display room near the entrance door but spends most of her time in a separate office room.
“The back is just storage at this point,” she said. “I don’t need this much space.”
Cota will change the display room from time to time and add new items.
Cota said she’s glad she went with the barn over a smaller office space.
“I’m very happy that I went this way,” she said. “I’m trying to keep some of the history going. If we don’t preserve some of that, kids aren’t going to know what it was like years ago.”
One of Lena’s most recognizable buildings, a barn on South Rosera Street less than a block south of Main Street, has housed an insurance agency office since 2014. (Greg Seubert)
