"The Coupling" Article – Sept. 19, 1976

For many years, I've driven past a small park on State Route 13 near Milan that has several train cars sitting on the property. I was always in a hurry to get wherever it was I was headed, so I never stopped to investigate why they were there. 

That's why I was happy to find the article below, which appeared in the Journal back on September 19, 1976. It tells the story of how "The Coupling" – a nature retreat located along the Huron River that today is known as The Coupling Metropark – was born of an idea conceived in a Sandusky church.

But first – why was it christened, "The Coupling?"

"First, it is taken from the fact that two old railroad cars, a caboose and a boxcar, have been moved and set up as the first structures on the site along SR 13, just north of the Ohio Turnpike," notes the article. "Second, it describes the purpose of the project, to bring people together.

"The Rev. Robert L. Berger, a Minister at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, at the corner of Perkins Avenue and Mills Street in Sandusky, says the group is convinced that well-planned retreats will aid families and other groups "to come together more meaningfully.

"The gift of the 22-acre site to St. Paul's Lutheran Church by Mrs. Lilian Horn of Sandusky in 1957 paved the way for the start of the project. The land has been used for occasional wilderness-type camping or hiking by Boy Scouts, but it wasn't until 1973 that Pastor Berger began an ernest effort to develop it."

Berger wrote letters asking for old railroad cars, and eventually received a caboose from the Chessie system. He was also able to salvage an old boxcar from the same railway.

I spent a little time at The Coupling Metropark on Saturday. Since the time of the 1976 article, a historic Wheeling & Lake Erie /B&O railroad depot has been relocated to the property from Monroeville. A caboose (identified by some experts as an old Western Maryland caboose) sits adjacent to the depot.

The two original train cars – the caboose and boxcar were still there, connected by a platform, as recently as 2016.

Photo courtesy The Coupling Metropark

However, the boxcar has since been replaced by a small cottage. 

The red caboose still looks pretty good. Here's hoping it gets the TLC it needs to keep this worthy idea alive for another fifty years.

Click here to visit The Coupling Metropark page on the Erie MetroParks website.