Restoring a piece of history

A piece of New Prague’s history has been restored thanks to the parents of a New Prague firefighter.

Terry Koloc and his wife Dawn spent more than 100 hours restoring a hose cart that dates back to 1900. Terry, who owns an auto painting business, and Dawn live in Norwood Young America. Their son Drew, a member of the fire department, asked his dad if they could use their expertise to restore the machine.

Former fire chief Jim Becker, who has gone through all of the records on the history of the department, said the cart is referred to as Hose Cart 2, and was likely purchased in late 1899. The first mention of the cart in the department’s inventory was in the minutes of the January 9, 1900, meeting.

"We started working on it in early 2017," said Terry. "We spent 10 months on and off to restore it."

Not all of the cart’s original equipment. The wheels needed to be replaced, and Terry found an Amish manufacturer in Ohio that was able to duplicate the wheels for the cart.

"A lot of polish went into this project," said Dawn.

"It really was a labor of love,” Terry added. "I’ve been painting cars for 30 years and this was a lot of fun. The more I got into it, the more it took off."

“While the wooden wheels are new, the wood on the reel is original, and was refinished by Dawn. The leather straps are new as well.

The care they put into the project was....

To see more on this story pick up the December 14, 2017 print edition of The New Prague Times. 

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