May 27, 2026 – Hartford, Wi – Hidden behind plaster and tucked beneath floorboards, a Hartford, Wi, home has quietly guarded a century’s worth of secrets. For homeowner Jim Hoskin, every remodeling project seems to come with another surprise rattling out of a wall, falling from a ceiling, or surfacing from the dirt below. “We bought this house in 1989,” said Hoskin. “Before us the owner’s name was Gomez, he still lives here in Hartford, and before that the original owners were the Greeners. Harry was his name, Harry Greener.”
Since beginning renovations, Hoskin and his wife have uncovered an assortment of unusual relics, each one carrying a whisper from another era.
One of the first discoveries came crashing down from above.
“This is the shoe that back then, they used to put a shoe in the wall for good luck,” Hoskin said. “This was in our ceiling, and when we took the ceiling down, this shoe fell out so it was meant for good luck. So we keep it with the house.”
The weathered shoe now serves as both decoration and guardian, a dusty little charm tossed through time.
Other finds emerged from the ground itself. A broken dish, likely once part of a teacup set, was discovered alongside scattered fragments buried near the home.
Hoskin also uncovered an antique Murine eye dropper bottle, remarkably intact. (“Works in a wink” – click HERE to read more.)
“It still has the original dropper in it,” Hoskin said. “Incredible with the rubber stopper still on it.”
While digging new footings for a master bedroom addition, the family discovered a clay pipe buried in the earth. Another curious item surfaced from inside a wall, an old metal beauty tool believed to have been used for curling hair.
“I think it’s for curling,” Hoskin said as the tool’s moving pieces still functioned decades later.
Then there were the scraps of everyday life that somehow survived untouched through generations. Old receipts from Hartford’s former Young’s Cash Store were found tucked into walls and insulation.
“The prices are pretty cheap,” Hoskin said. “You aren’t going to buy this stuff nowadays for that.”
One receipt dated to 1917. Another treasure included the wrapper from a Hershey’s almond candy bar.
“No candy,” Hoskin said. “I think that’s why it’s torn on the end.”
Among the more eye-catching discoveries was an antique soda bottle from Milwaukee’s Graf Soda Company.
“It used to use a lead stopper to hold the soda in,” Hoskin said. “Which nowadays would be illegal.”
But perhaps the most startling moment came during demolition work with his brother.
“When we took one of the boards out of the wall, this Remington .22 pump rifle fell out of the wall and almost hit him in the head,” Hoskin said.
The firearm, believed to date to around 1910, still bears its serial number and features an octagon-shaped barrel from an earlier manufacturing style.
“The pump still moves,” Hoskin said.
Additional digging around the property turned up the remains of two Civil War-era pistols, along with Indian Head pennies, ceramic jar tops, broken glass, and countless other artifacts.
“It’s like they used to take their garbage and just dump it on the ground,” he said of the area where the home’s workshop once stood. “That’s where we were finding this stuff.”
Another remarkable piece of history surfaced beneath the flooring: a vintage Montgomery Ward catalog used as insulation.
“They just covered it up with boards and left it there,” Hoskin said. “That’s how we found this.”
Flipping through the pages today feels like opening a portal into another America, where everyday items cost pennies instead of paychecks.
“When you look at the prices in here and what you’re paying now, you’re ready to have a heart attack,” he said.
Hoskin has also developed a knack for restoring antique trunks and locks uncovered along the way. Using blank keys, paint marks, and patient filing, he recreates working keys by hand for old-fashioned locks.
“Most of these old locks are so simple that almost anybody can do what I do,” he said.
For Hoskin, the home has become more than a remodeling project. It is part archaeological dig, part history lesson, and part treasure hunt where every removed board could reveal another forgotten chapter.
“It’s funny because when you restore a house, you don’t know what you’re gonna find,” he said. “People put stuff in the walls and they just leave it and forget about it until somebody comes along like me and my wife and we start remodeling, and then we start finding all these treasures.”
About the author: Sally Jensen has been documenting building history in Hartford, Wi, for the past 20 years. She recently uncovered a timecapsule tucked behind the cornerstone at Hartford City Hall. If you have an interesting hidden treasure or an historic home please reach out and we’ll set you up with Sally Jensen. [email protected]
