August 13, 2020 at 4:16 p.m.
Pioneer Park Historical Complex announces 5 Spot fundraiser
Donations requested to fund restoration project
Pioneer Park Historical Complex announces 5 Spot fundraiser
By Stephanie Kuski-
To remedy this, PPHC Director Kerry Bloedorn announced a project to set a new foundation underneath the 5 Spot engine by the end of 2020.
"The rail used to be above the brick platform," Bloedorn explained. "You can see now, there's a lot of places where the rails are resting on the brick, so that's almost helping to hold it up at this point and that will continue to sink down... As time goes on, the ground shifts and moves because of frost heave."
"The longer we wait, the more expensive, the more time-consuming, the more complicated this project gets," he added, "because the further it sinks, the worse off it is."
The purpose of this project is to pick up the engine with two large cranes in order to put in a new foundation that will be suitable for the long term. Bloedorn said the new foundation should last another 50 years or more, but the cost of the project is estimated at $65,000.
Because the brakes and pistons are seized, the engine cannot be moved without the help of large equipment, Bloedorn said, noting that the closest company with the right tools is in Stevens Point.
"They'll come in, they'll pick this up and they'll lay down some sheets of steel on the other track adjacent to it on the other side," Bloedorn explained. "Then they'll set the whole train on those steel plates. Then the railroad construction company will come in and excavate the old ties, take the old rail off, dig down to the appropriate depth for a solid foundation, refill that with the appropriate material to bring it back up and then put the concrete pad down and affix the rails to it with a special rail-to-concrete system. Then, after that's secured, the crane company will come back and they'll move the train engine."
Their goal is to get the new foundation in before the first snowfall of this year, Bloedorn said. But that new foundation is only phase one of a larger, more long-term restoration project. After phase one is completed, the goal of phase two will be to cover the engine (and later, the rest of the train) in order to limit its exposure to the elements. A more general restoration project will take place once the first two phases are completed, he added.
Rather than hosting a year-long fundraiser to complete all of these goals at once, PPHC opted instead to break it up into manageable phases in which setting the new foundation is the first priority.
Although this project will be a big undertaking, it's also a necessary one, considering the 5 Spot has a long and enduring history in the psyche of our community, according to Bloedorn.
The 5 Spot is a narrow-gauge engine that was designed and built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Pennsylvania in 1925 to the specifications of the Thunder Lake Lumber Co. in Rhinelander, Bloedorn explained.
The engine operated as a log hauler and common carrier until operations at the Thunder Lake Lumber Co. ceased in 1941. It was then sold to a mining company in Chihuahua, Mexico, and continued its work there until 1972, when it was retired and donated to the Colorado Railroad Museum. One year later, the engine returned to Rhinelander and has since been featured as a static display at the PPHC.
"You can find other similar engines built around the same time for similar purposes, but there are certain aspects of it - like the flanged wheels and components on the engine - that were designed specifically for the work here in Rhinelander," Bloedorn said. "That is one thing, engine-wise, why this locomotive is so special."
"This was the last narrow-gauge engine to run in Wisconsin," he added. "All of those things together make it a very unique, amazing specimen. Even furthermore, it's the only train engine of its kind - narrow-gauge or otherwise - on display in Oneida County. So the whole county, aside from the Rhinelander community in general, has an appreciation for this engine and its appearance."
Bloedorn regards the 5 Spot as "one of the crowned jewels of the Complex," which is why he and others feel it is so necessary to invest the time and energy now in order to restore the engine for the community to enjoy long into the future.
In order to meet this goal, the PPHC Advisory Committee is leading this fundraising project.
"The Advisory Committee is comprised of a number of different people who have a connection to different buildings, different items within the Pioneer Park Historical Complex," Tracey Barnes, PPHC Advisory Committee member and PPHC volunteer, explained.
In an effort to support the preservation of our community's unique history, a community fund titled the Pioneer Park Historical Complex Fund was also established by the Rhinelander Community Foundation (RCF). In this way, individuals can direct a tax-deductible donation to the PPHC Fund and those donations will be used to make grants available for high priority projects at the PPHC, beginning with the 5 Spot project.
Over a number of years, Bloedorn said he's been approached by numerous individuals willing to donate to this project and others, but without RCF acting as a conduit to provide those tax incentives and other benefits, it was difficult to funnel donations through the appropriate channels.
"We were stuck between a rock and a hard place," Bloedorn explained. "Being this is a city-owned and operated museum, it's room tax monies that support the operation of this museum because it's a tourist-related entity... But truth be told, it's just not enough to maintain and do some of the restoration projects that need to take place for this museum to last into the future."
Armed with RCF's support, the funds generated through these donations will be granted from the PPHC Fund to the city, so that PPHC can maintain its status as a city-owned and operated museum.
"That way, we can continue to use the city's system and work within that framework," Bloedorn said. "So really, it's the Community Foundation being willing to offer up that extra hand that is vital to getting these larger projects funded."
"Individuals can direct those tax-deductible donations to the Pioneer Park Historical Complex Fund at the Community Foundation, and then in turn those donations will be used to make grants available from the Community Foundation to high priority projects at the Historical Complex," RCF Secretary Janet Jamison explained.
"There's two different ways people can donate," she continued. "They can either make a donation to the PPHC General Fund and that would be used to make grants available for whatever the Advisory Committee deems as a high priority project at the Complex. The Advisory Committee then writes a grant request to the Community Foundation, and then the Community Foundation votes as a board as to which funds to allow for that particular project. Or, if donors specifically chose to designate their donation to a specific building in the museum complex like, say, the Rural Schoolhouse, they can choose to do that as well, and then the money is saved in the fund and directed back to the Schoolhouse at some point in the future. But the current high priority project is the train engine."
"It's a real opportunity for the Historical Complex to do things that they otherwise only dreamed of," Jamison added. "It's another great public, private and city partnership."
RCF board member George Juetten was the catalyst for the initial conversations that later jump-started this project, Jamison added.
Juetten and his wife Sondra generously offered to match the first $25,000 in donations to the 5 Spot project.
"Once he got the ball rolling, there were others in a similar situation who maybe had always wanted a way to be able to help, but didn't know what avenue would be best for that," Jamison said. "So this is a way for them to be able to help the museum complex grow."
As of the time of this writing, $17,325 has already been raised for the 5 Spot project and will be matched by the Juettens for a total of $29,650. While this total is quickly inching towards their goal, the PPHC Advisory Committee will continue to fundraise for donations through this fall with the intent to complete phase one of the project by the end of this year.
To make a tax-deductible donation to the PPHC Fund, checks can be made payable to the Rhinelander Community Foundation with "PPHC Fund" written in the memo line and mailed to the Rhinelander Community Foundation at P.O. Box 1523, Rhinelander, WI 54501. Online donation options are also available at rhinelandercommunityfoundation.com.
For more information about the 5 Spot fundraiser or to donate to it, contact Bloedorn at [email protected] or (715) 550-8221.
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