"Thursday, November 5th, 1874:" Couple discovers 142-year-old newspaper hidden in their living room walls!



WILMOT -- A woman living in rural Kenosha County said she's in awe of what she discovered hanging up inside her wall. She made the discovery while remodeling her home, and the 142-year-old document is helping write a new story.



Bits and pieces of an old plaster wall were piled up Sunday, July 16th in Maria Leimuller's front yard.

"I'm peeling off layers and layers of this stuff," Bill Schmidt said.

Maria Leimuller



"He had to remove all the wooden slats, and the insulation came out," Leimuller said.

"I think somebody was just putting it there on purpose," Schmidt said.

Schmidt, Leimuller's fiance, had to break through the plaster in order to find pages from the past. It happened as the couple works to remodel their Wilmot home.



"The first one I took pictures of and sent to my boss and she was like, 'so cool!'" Leimuller said.

Hanging inside Leimuller's living room wall is a copy of the Kenosha Telegraph, printed in 1874!

"Thursday, November 5th, 1874, Number 24," Leimuller said.



Since the discovery, Leimuller said she's been captivated by the articles and advertisements from a time when the country was less than a century old.

"And then I saw a White House story. It was President Grant, the 18th president," Leimuller said.



She said she cannot help but wonder whether the paper might be worth something.

"I've read it like 14 times," Leimuller said.



As with any good story -- there's always more to tell. The rest of the paper was spread out on Leimuller's garage floor.

"These are the others. Thursday, January 28th, 1875," Leimuller said.

Maria Leimuller







She may have a total of four partial newspapers from early 1875. She said she hopes someone will be able to help her authenticate the broadsheets, but feels that would only be a formality -- as this is the real deal.

If you have information on authentication -- please email Leimuller at marialeimuller@yahoo.com.