SLIDESHOW: Caledonia Historical Society's New Addition

The weather had peeled off some of the yellow paint on a 1927 caboose that sat behind a Caledonia resident's home. He didn't want to be named. He's not a publicity kind of guy and wanted his privacy, but he was happy to talk about this piece of history that sat in the backyard. He wanted the No. 21, which came from Minnesota and then transported coal from the iron ore mines up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to coal cities, to be preserved.

On Wednesday, July 13, a fork lift took the caboose off the ground. The men moving the caboose carefully placed it on a semi-trailer that would take it to Linwood Park where the Caledonia Historical Society members planned to have it restored.

Royse Myers, a member of the historical society, said they hope to have more volunteers that would be willing to help work on restoring the caboose. He's also looking to borrow a front-end skid loader with forks for a month. 

On a side note, the group will host the 2011 Caledonia Homecoming Celebration from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at Linwood Park, on Five Mile Road just east of State Highway 38. They would love to have some volunteer help with that and they are looking for arts and crafts sellers.

Anyone interested in membership or volunteering can call Michael Michna at (262) 758-2131, or email him at CHS1877@yahoo.com or just drop by one of their meetings. They meet the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Old Town Hall unless announced otherwise.