- Darlington's got a great, great Main Street.
It's got a beautiful courthouse at the top
and a river at the bottom.
[old time engine starting]
- Along this historic street
you can find life-long resident Ted Thuli
driving what he describes
as one step above a horse and buggy.
- This 1927 Franklin Limousine.
This came out of Mountain City, Tennessee.
- It's just one of his many collectibles.
- I guess when I was a kid I started getting this stuff.
We'd go to auctions and anything that was left over
and went for a nickel or a dime I'd grab
and it just evolved from there.
- "Evolved" would be an understatement.
- 1895 facades, that's off of a local business.
I've been in most every building in Darlington,
basements, upstairs.
They'd be in and out of different hands
and I'd go in and buy up anything I could.
- Collecting has become way more than a hobby.
- It's an addiction definitely.
Motorcycles, cars and stuff.
Ya, it's bad.
- Ted is so good at something he describes as bad
that he caught the attention of some TV executives.
[TV show theme music]
- Was on American Pickers, ya.
They bought stuff.
- I see you got your porcelain Goodyear sign
up there with the winged foot.
- That one, $300. - $300?
- Complete.
- How about $200?
- I should've started higher.
[laughter]
The TV show's cool.
American Pickers was neat.
- It was also in this small town
that Ted's father set up shop.
- I own Darlington Dairy Supply with my brother Tory.
It's a family business Dad started in 1958
in Darlington here downtown.
- Years later,
downtown is where Ted launched his first big adventure.
- My thoughts really, Darlington needs a draw.
- Visitors to the Thuli Family Creamery are greeted
by a prop from the movie Jaws.
Another one of Ted's collectibles.
Across the street,
construction is underway on another pet project.
- The Driver Opera House is a flat floor opera house upstairs.
It was built in 1876, I believe.
Last used in '58 maybe.
- He notices something workers discovered under the stage.
And Ted can't resist the chance to investigate.
- This is one of the original Badger State Mineral Water bottles.
Would have been one of the original sodas here,
made in Darlington.
I've been doing that for, ya, since I was a little kid.
- As a kid, Ted got his first real job
in this historic downtown gas station.
- When I turned 16, I started working here.
Pumped gas, checked oil, washed the windshield.
Mostly tell people how to get to Yellowstone Lake.
That was a big thing. And then I bought it.
- Ted helped renovate the gas station into a new brewery
serving coffee in the morning and local beer at night.
- Ahh!
I want a destination.
Sit in the beer garden right on Main Street in Darlington.
You hear the traffic.
You see the sights and you know,
just kind of imagine what this place was like 150 years ago.
That's awesome.
- Ted has made a name for himself
at the Darlington City Council.
[laughter]
- I'm probably the loud guy that they hate seeing coming.
Don't get rid of history.
People know that but somebody's gotta voice it.
Somebody's gotta stand up and say that.
- Even with all his ambitious plans,
Ted had one more surprise for the city.
[chuckling]
- Our house.
I bought that property from the city.
- Visitors are greeted by columns
acquired from a Missouri courthouse.
His house is a story in and of itself.
- I ended up buying a cooling unit
that was Swiss Colonies up in Madison.
- You heard right.
He lives in a former cheese cooler
rebuilt around his collection.
Step into his house and you will step back in time.
- The entry way to the house
is an old gas station that was in Darlington.
The Standard Service Station was built in 1929.
When you walk into the house, it would look like
you're coming out the front entrance to the gas station.
We've got a 1942 theatre that was in Darlington.
I went in and asked the owner, Jim, if I could buy it.
He gladly sold it to me for a $100.
The whole facade off of that was on the second story of our house
and that's actually a theatre in our house.
- This unique house
was Ted's ticket to even more TV appearances.
- Ya, we've been on HGTV on three different episodes.
[TV show theme music]
- Welcome to Schaum Heim.
That means foam home.
- So what's the motivation behind Ted's obsession
with collecting and preserving?
- Yeah, a lot of people ask that.
My wife asks that. "Why ya doing this?"
I don t know. It's a passion. It's a...
...respect for what other people have gone through.
I mean I love Darlington.
Most of the stuff when I was growing up is gone now.
Hopefully people look back and say, you know,
I'm glad Ted Thuli saved this or that.
That's what I would hope.
I might buy things and turn them into something
but it takes everybody to make this community turn.