Wisconsin Couple Doing Work Around Their Retirement Home Peel Away a Wall in Their Backyard and Discover a Rare Piece of History

A Wisconsin couple has discovered a piece of history in their own backyard.

Bill and Sharon Krapil were doing some work around their property in Weyauwega when they discovered that an old structure they wanted to tear down in their backyard was actually a converted early 1900s Chicago train car.

Image source: WLUK-TV

As they were stripping away the walls, they realized they were uncovering a slice of a bygone rail era.

“It’s like history stepping out of time, into my backyard," Sharon Krapil told WLUK-TV.

She said she'd heard stories from people who said someone once lived in there, but never knew it was an old train car.

As it turns out, another couple named Bill and Florence Haberkamp actually lived inside the trolley more than 60 years ago.

Residents Mary Jane Baehman and Rita Kraus recalled going over to the Haberkamps to watch Friday night boxing matches. Baehman said she remembers how her father used to smoke cigars with Bill Haberkamp.

Bob Lettenberger, the education director of the National Railroad Museum in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, said that based on its appearance, the car was probably in operation in the early 1900s or 1910s.

Image source: WLUK-TV

“They were very popular for the time and while they were popular, there were a good deal of them running around the U.S., when the service stopped, it became surplus," Lettenberger said.

And that could explain how the trolley ended up in a backyard 200 miles from the city where it was first operated a century ago.

An "S" and an "L" can be seen on the side of the car surrounded by a "C." The three letters make up the logo for Chicago Surface Lines, the predecessor to the Chicago Transit Authority.

CSL had purchased the vehicle from St. Louis Car Company sometime after it was built in 1905 or 1906.

Image source: WLUK-TV

Lettenberger said he suspects there are more of such historical train cars out there today.

“They make great hunting cabins, they were playhouses for kids, as you see, with this one, it was somebody’s actual residence,” Lettenberger said. “They’ve cropped up all over the place.”

But Krapil said she and her husband are looking to part with the car, since they don't have the money to put into it to keep it up.

"I really would like to see it preserved,” Sharon Krapil said. "It’s like a piece of Americana.”

(H/T: WLUK-TV)

Editor's note: This post has been updated to show that the National Railroad Museum is located in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, not Ashwaubenon, Illinois.

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