Pictured left to right admiring their craftsmanship are employees from Hooker Enterprises Painting that worked on the Community’s historic landmark: Caleb Schaefer, Colin Doerr, Chase Schaefer and Company President Jim Hooker.
The historic Nickel Plate Railroad caboose displayed at the Payne Community Park in Payne recently received a fresh coat of paint thanks to the cooperative efforts of the Village of Payne, the Payne Chamber of Commerce and Hooker Enterprises Painting. A memorial donation in 2016 from Mrs. Ron ‘Charlotte’ Woods of Payne also helped with this project.
The 1955, all steel, 24 ton, double bay window caboose was built in the NKP shops in Ironville, (east Toledo) Ohio and placed at the Payne Community Park in August, 1990, just one year after the 1882 Depot was relocated there. Both relocation projects were undertaken by the Chamber of Commerce with generous donations from citizens and businesses in the Payne and surrounding communities. Subsequent to these efforts, the Chamber transferred ownership of the Park to the Village in order to satisfy a nearly $125,000 matching grant requirement from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that was used to make further improvements (ballfield lights, concession stand, and playground equipment) at the Park.
