Ed Hawley, owner the Miamisburg history train depot, spent many days in recent weeks working on the dock of the landmark, hoping to finish it in time for the city’s bicentennial celebration later this month. But, last week someone stole a pile of wood, including a more than 150-year-old beam from the original building.
“I thought, ‘no, this is not good, that’s the one piece of wood that I really needed to have out of there,’" Hawley said Monday. “It’s a pretty important piece of wood, you try to do as much of this stuff with the original wood as you can.”
Soon after the theft, Hawley’s wife posted messages about it on Facebook and received hundreds of comments on her post. Then a woman called the family and said that her adult son had stolen the wood, and he’d return it, Hawley said.
“It does show that people do want to do the right thing most of the time,” he said.
With the historic beam back where it belongs, Hawley resumed work on the depot, and said he’s relieved the would-be crime solved itself. He also opted not to press charges.
“Most things that get taken don’t ever come back,” he said. “This did. Within 24 hours, it’s gone and back, so pretty impressive,” he said.
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