Round House

When it comes to preserving history, Jerry Fiorovante of Rhinelander is doing his part. An avid collector and restorer, his basement consists of re-creations of the city's railroads as well as model trains, dollhouses and other fascinating items. His work can also be enjoyed by the public at the Rhinelander Railroad Museum.

Fiorovante's interest in trains is tied to his experience working as a switchman in the Calumet Yard in Chicago.

Jerry Fiorovante of Rhinelander is an avid collector and restorer of train sets, dollhouses and other bits of history.
(Photo by Jake Schexnaydre/Lakeland Times)

He worked there for two to three years, specializing in steam engines. In railroading, a switchman is a person who manually switches the direction of the trains as they proceeded on the tracks. He explained that work was assigned on what was known as an "extra board."

The name of each switchman was listed on the board in order of when they would be needed for the day's job. If a switchman was lower on the board, they would go later in the day. In some cases, Fiorovante would even work night shifts from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

When a train would come in, Fiorovante would talk to the junction man, who would tell him which track to direct the train toward. He would tie a message to the engineer on a piece of twine, called a "frog stick." When the engineer would come by, Fiorovante would hold the frog stick out for the engineer to grab the message. Afterwards, he would set up a signal to let the engineer know that it is OK to proceed and then throw the switch.

He eventually grew tired of that job, which could sometimes be dangerous for him. "When you work at night," he said, "you can hardly see. They got lights there, but you can't see."

Soon enough, he found a new job as a yard clerk, responsible for working with the switchmen in directing the trains. This job would allow him more vacation time and opportunities to travel with his family, he noted.

Eventually, technology would take that job. Trains would come with a barcode outside of the train cars that would be scanned into a computer, using scanners out in the east and west side of the area. Fiorovante became an operator, working from 95th Street and 103rd & Doty Avenue. This was to cover for a person who was off duty due to injuries and other issues. Overall, his railroad career lasted for 13 years. After that came a stint as a school bus driver. He also worked as a truck driver for six years, mainly going on routes from Illinois to Pennsylvania and driving semi-trucks to Indiana.

Model train collecting

During his time as a truck driver, Fiorovante began to draw a railroad pattern that would eventually become one of his railroad models. He drew inspiration from pictures of various buildings and used them to make dioramas. He even resorted to using the paneling from his house in this process.

Some of his dioramas, as well as model he constructed of the round house on Brown Street, are preserved at the railroad museum at Pioneer Park. His collection of train models, as well as other vehicles, stretches from wall to wall, ranging from antiques to newer models.

"It was my passion ... to collect that stuff," he said. "[If I was in] any place I'd buy stuff, I would buy it."

He would also share this passion with his family, even by making dioramas for his grandson.

"I made a lot of stuff for him - I made everything for him out of wood," he said.

Dollhouses

One day, when Fiorovante was at a yard sale, a lady approached him and asked him if he would like to restore her two dollhouses, a Victorian dollhouse and a farmhouse. He accepted. "They were in bad shape," he said. "I mean, she bought them for about $25 for both of them."

To restore the Victorian dollhouse, he built French doors out of wood and used plastic for the glass windows. On top of that, he even installed shingles on the house. The farmhouse required even more work. He would build everything in it, including a porch.

The woman was pleased with his work and the positive response prompted him to consider other restoration projects.

"She decorated (the dollhouses) for Christmas and everything else for the kids," he explained. "From there, [I decided,] 'Well, I guess I'll have some business cards made up.'"

After that, he received a request from a woman who was hoping to have a birdhouse, a gift from her father, restored. Fiorovante not only restored the birdhouse, but he also created a plaque for the woman's father and restored one of her dollhouses.

Another dollhouse restoration project was completed at the request of a former manager of a Hallmark store, a place where he would get some of his model vehicles.

"One day, she called me up and she said she got a dollhouse from some place else before Hobby Lobby came in," Fiorovante said. "I made three of them for her, for each kid."

The next year, the same woman asked him to build a little log cabin. He sent it to her as a kit to fulfill her request to allow her to paint it herself. "It was just something for me to do during the wintertime. I love it," Fiorovante commented.

Preservation of Rhinelander's history

After his careers in railroads and truck driving came to an end, Fiorovante moved to Rhinelander in 1978. Over the last several decades, he has been collecting newspaper articles about Rhinelander.

Among these newspaper clippings were stories pertaining to Rhinelander's history of the railroads. Some of the articles he has collected included those published by the Northwoods River News.

"Each time the paper had something written in there," he said, "I would cut it out and put it in my little scrapbook."

Some of these stories involved the Spot 5 restoration in 2021 and the Soo Line Caboose. "Soo Line was the main thing here in town," he said, "My neighbor, he was born and raised here [in Rhinelander]. He got me interested in what was going on in town. There was a lady told me the history of the round house. Her father worked in there; that was part of Soo Line."

To further his interest in this history, he collects such things as pictures of the nickel-plate from various trains. In addition, he has discovered plenty of the town's history from the Rhinelander Historical Society and even online from places like Facebook.

Fiorovante said his hobbies and projects help him stay active and occupied, but he also feels strongly that history should be shared and preserved.

When asked about what people should do with the history of Rhinelander, he had this to say: "Don't let it die. Keep the history of the railroading at the [Railroad Museum] and the logging museum. It's for the next generation of kids. Before everybody is long gone, let them know what's going on. Let them keep it. It hurts me in a way that people don't appreciate what this town has; it kind of grew on me, in a way. I haven't been to [those museums] for years, but I know that some of the stuff in there should not die. It should stay. Don't let the town take over the whole thing."

Jake Schexnaydre may be reached at [email protected].