Okay, I went out and took a closer look at it this morning....there is a small metal plate on what I would guess would have been the middle of the wooden part of the axel....it says "Hoernlein..."(can't read that word, will have to clean it up some more) and then the next line says "Horicon". The wood is pretty much dry-rotted and in bad shape. The iron (no doubt it is anything else, as this thing is HEAV-Y!) is pretty rusted. Anyone have any ideas on how to clean this poor thing that has been hidden in that wall most likely since the garage was built in the 1950-51 time frame?