Discovering Liberty Screen Printing: Printing a Legacy in Madison, One Shirt at a Time

Dec 16, 20244 min read

Downtown Madison Screen Printing and Graphic Design Shop

Josh Nichter of Liberty Screen Printing knew not a single soul in Madison in 2007 when he and his wife Stephanie decided to move here, buy a building and open a business.

“There are just some days that stay in your memory,” says Josh. One of those days was Father’s Day 2007. He was 28 years old, the father of a 2-year-old son, when he and his wife made their first visit from LaGrange, Ky. “I love old architecture and someone suggested I should see Madison.” They had lunch at the Downtowner and looked around. The former Lodge Hardware store at 118 E. Main Street was for sale. They fell in love with the building and the town. Everything fell into place quickly for Josh to buy the building and start his new life as an entrepreneur.

Photo Credit to Lindsay Holley with Madison Main Street.

For 17 years now, Josh has operated Liberty Screen Printing and its predecessor, East Industries. Liberty Screen Printing at 831 W. Main St. is a full-service graphic design and printing company. Products include screen printed or embroidered apparel, vinyl graphics, signs, business print products and banners.

Armed with a bachelor of fine arts degree from Western Kentucky University, Josh had learned the art of screen printing from Stephanie’s father, Walter Dell, a master of the craft. Josh helped with such projects as screen printing wooden barrel heads for Woodford Reserve and doing regional work for Kroger. When Josh started his own shop, Walt gave Josh his screen printing equipment.

Photo Credit to Lindsay Holley with Madison Main Street.

What followed Josh’s arrival in Madison was pure small town magic. His first customer was Madison High School teacher Aaron Kelsey, who was preparing to stage a new musical, “Rivertown,” for Madison’s Bicentennial. He checked out Josh’s in-store art gallery, and asked him to judge an art show. Soon after that, he had Josh design a logo for “Rivertown,” which found its way into a Madison Courier story, along with a prominent mention of Madison’s newest screen printing business (then called East Industries).

“In a month’s time, I went from knowing nobody to having my logo design in The Madison Courier.” The power of relationship-building took over from there, and Josh soon had all the business he could handle in 60- to 80-hour work weeks.

In 2011, Josh bought the Rainbow Stained Glass building at 831 W. Main St., from Rick and Sharon Collier. Moving his enterprise, Josh renamed it Liberty Screen Printing. Friends warned him he would “die” on the west end because customers wouldn’t find him. “I told myself I would be a destinational business. I would shift gears.” He no longer chased retail sales and concentrated on larger orders. “When I moved to the west part of Main Street, no one was down here. John Heitz at Red Pepper was the only one.” Soon Horst Moehlman opened Horst’s Little Bakery Haus. It was followed by a restaurant called the Italian Station, which soon gave way to the Red Pepperoni. Now the Playhouse Café, Spirit Horse Gallery and others call the west end home, and Christmas decorations stretch from the Madison-Milton bridge all the way west to Lanier Drive.

Photo Credit to Lindsay Holley with Madison Main Street.

When Josh bought his current building, the inside walls were white and the ceiling had been dropped to 8 feet. Landon Ralston did the restoration for Josh. “I wanted people to come in here and see the character of the building.” Some walls now are exposed brick. Wood floors and corrugated metal wainscotting add to the industrial look.

Josh has had his share of setbacks. When the pandemic closed many downtown storefronts in 2020, he found a way to become “essential” by screen printing masks and new signage for other businesses adapting to the situation.

Two months into the Covid era, in May 2020, a neighbor suffered a devastating fire that caused more than $150,000 damage to Liberty Screen Printing, mostly as a result of smoke and water. Josh is grateful for the firefighters – many of them his friends – who broke into his building and positioned waterproof tarps to protect his valuable equipment. “God has been good to me. And it was amazing how lucky those relationships I had made helped,” says Josh. During the year it took to recover from the fire, Josh was able to stay in business with equipment he moved to a detached garage at his home.

Photo Credit to Lindsay Holley with Madison Main Street.

Although he has had employees from time to time, Josh still prefers to work alone. “I custom design everything,” he says. “Nobody cares about your customers the way you do. My customers are very important to me.” When they have time, his two sons help him. The older son is studying marketing with an eye to joining the business someday.

He tells his sons, “You were born and raised in an amazing town. Moving to Madison was the greatest thing I ever did.”

Liberty Screen Printing is generally open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., except those afternoons when Josh is coaching basketball or baseball at Shawe Junior-Senior High School. His son Clark is in eighth grade there, while son Wyatt graduated two years ago.

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