Vintage chimneys from the two log cabins at Wilson Brewer Park stand ready for the logs to arrive in the next week.  Peterson Construction recently moved the rustic chimneys onto the new foundations.

The refurbished logs from two cabins in Wilson Brewer Park will soon be returning home, according to city officials.

The Wilson Brewer/Jackson Groves and Jamison log cabins at the park were dismantled last winter. The pieces of the historic structures were then transported, piece by piece, to the contractor’s shop for renovation.

The City Council awarded the bid for the restoration of the cabins to Heritage Woodwork Inc. of Clemons. Each log was cataloged and marked with its position so it can be reassembled in the same order. The contractor worked on shoring up the logs with the plans to return the cabin pieces to the park as soon as next week. Several of the logs, which could not be repaired will be replaced, according to city officials.

The City Council recently approved additional funds to replace some of those logs which were too deteriorated to use.

When the cabin pieces are returned, they will be placed upon the new concrete foundations which are already constructed. Crews from Peterson Construction gingerly moved the historic chimneys from both of the cabins onto the new foundations.

“Once the chimneys are set in the correct location on the foundation, the logs will essentially just be set back in the original positions around the chimney,” according to Bob Oliver, a member of the Wilson Brewer Historic Park Committee.

Wooden floors will be put down and new wooden roofs will be erected on the cabins.

“The cabins will have electric lighting and more all-weather reliability in the building. They will be restored to a brand new 100-year-old cabin,” he said.

During the restoration, the artifacts and displays normally housed inside the cabins were stored in a portable storage unit on the grounds.

Another noticeable change at the park is the addition of 50-feet of railroad track on the west side of the Depot museum. That addition is in anticipation of the arrival of a vintage Illinois Central railroad caboose.

According to Oliver, the caboose was purchased from a private owner in Texas, located about 20 miles from the Gulf of Mexico,

The train car will actually travel to Webster City on its own wheels as part of a freight train, traveling from its present location to Houston, then on to Omaha on Union Pacific lines. From there, the caboose will be changed to Canadian National lines, shipping from Omaha to Webster City. The car will stop on North Des Moines St., near the former Electroplax plant property.

The caboose will then be moved very slowly to the park on a low-boy trailer. The car body will be lifted off of the steel wheels and will be moved separately, according to Oliver. It will then be reassembled Onsted.

Crews are also working on scraping the exterior of the Mulberry Center Church and the Harmony Center Schoolhouse so that a fresh coat of paint can be added.