A former Catholic school, World War II-era dress factory and flooring showroom in Shenandoah has become the setting for one of the largest cleanouts television host Matt Paxton has encountered during his career.
Paxton and the crew of Discovery Channel’s Filthy Fortunes are filming at 227 North Catherine Street for the show’s third season.
The public will have an opportunity to purchase some of the items uncovered during a two-day estate sale scheduled for Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The sale will be held in a lot adjacent to the property. Visitors will also have an opportunity to meet members of the show’s cast and crew.
There will be no public access inside the building because of active filming and safety concerns.
Paxton, who previously appeared on Hoarders, described Filthy Fortunes as a combination of two popular television concepts.
“It’s kind of like if the show Hoarders and American Pickers had a baby,” Paxton said.
The show follows Paxton, appraiser Mike Kelleher, cleanout manager Kayland Brock and lead picker Chris Davis as they help families clear inherited or heavily cluttered properties while searching for valuable antiques, collectibles and other hidden treasures.
Paxton entered the cleanout business at age 24 after his father, stepfather and both grandfathers died within a year.
“My grandfather always said to me, ‘If something sucks, do it for a job because people will pay you to do it,’” Paxton said. “Twenty-six years later, I’m still doing it.”
The Shenandoah property has a long and varied history. According to one of the owner’s sons, the original section served as a Catholic girls’ elementary school before being converted into a dress factory during World War II. A later owner expanded the building with a flooring showroom.
The current owner spent approximately 40 years working as an antique dealer in New York City and maintained storage locations across the East Coast. During his career, he sourced items for major film productions, including projects associated with director Martin Scorsese and The Godfather.
With their father now terminally ill, his three sons sought help clearing the massive collection.
“It’s bittersweet,” one of the sons said, describing the opportunity to have Paxton and the crew help rescue the family from the situation as “huge.”
Paxton initially ranked the property among the 20 largest collections he has encountered across both Hoarders and Filthy Fortunes, but revised that assessment as the cleanout progressed.
“This is probably a top 10,” Paxton said.
The value of the building and the collection inside stand in stark contrast.
“This house is not worth $50,000,” Paxton said. “But the contents could be worth millions.”
Discoveries included an Art Deco kitchen setup, a custom-built New York Yankees press box made from stadium seats, vintage porcelain signs, trunks, mid-century furniture and film reels.
Reaching those items has required a substantial amount of work. An electrician was brought in to establish power, while crews cleared hundreds of tarped bins from the driveway, removed abandoned vehicles and reinforced sections of flooring that were beginning to cave.
The production has also created a temporary economic boost in the Shenandoah area. Approximately 30 members of the traveling production crew are working at the property, while roughly 20 local workers have been hired.
Those local workers include cleanout crews, electricians, Bobcat operators, dumpster services and area junk-removal businesses, including Bainbridge Brothers.
Field producer Ali Yamashita said the show approaches each property with the goal of helping families rather than judging how the situation developed.
“We don’t psychoanalyze,” Yamashita said. “We’re not here to judge or indict anybody. We’re here to help them move forward.”
That work includes carefully checking books, clothing and other unlikely hiding places for valuables.
“Hoarders tend to hide all their valuables in pockets and strange places,” Yamashita said. “So, we always look through books and find money and treasures and coins.”
Items selected for the public sale are being moved from the building into two U-Haul trucks and transported to the adjacent lot. Yamashita said shoppers should expect a fast-moving rummage or yard-sale atmosphere rather than a traditionally priced antique sale.
“We call it an estate sale,” Yamashita said. “It’s more of a rummage sale, yard sale because we don’t have time. We don’t really price things. We just make a pile. The more you buy, the less it is.”
Paxton said the most valuable part of a cleanout cannot always be measured by what the crew finds or sells.
“The good stuff’s always in the back,” Paxton said. “It’s never up front. If it was easy, they wouldn’t hire us.”
“The real value is that we help people wrap up that part of their life and then move on to the next.”
The crew says they will be filming in Easton, Pennsylvania very soon.
Filthy Fortunes airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on the Discovery Channel and is also available to stream on HBO Max.
