“Boxcar Baby” Ivy Winter talks with Shawnee Mayor Eric Stephens during her 95th birthday party, held at the Pottawatomie County Historical Society Museum on Dec. 12. Winter was born on a boxcar in Shawnee on Dec. 14, 1929. Countywide & Sun/Natasha Dunagan
In 1929, it was not unusual for babies to be born at home.
But it was unusual for babies to be born on a railroad boxcar.
However, for the family of Frank and Lorena Winter, a boxcar was their home for a while. F. Winter worked for the Santa Fe Railroad as a welder, and he was provided a “crew car” for his living quarters on the job.
The “tiny house” was divided into bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living…
