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April 27, 1901, Neenah Times
This had to be the oldest wedding on record at St. John's. Just imagine, the bride and groom were born in 1827 and 1829 respectively. Wow! That's at least 16 to 18 years before the first house was even constructed in what became Menasha and only fifty or so years after the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. Oh, the stories I'm sure those two could tell!
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April 23, 1970, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
With Earth Day being yesterday, I couldn't let it go unnoticed. This rather ominous photo by an unknown student illustrates the need for protection from pollutants that triggered the very first Earth Day in 1970. Today, the focus might be more on global warming or in ridding ourselves of reliance on plastics, but back then, with pollution so bad that the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson spearheaded the Earth Day efforts in the US with teach-ins and peaceful demonstrations. As evidenced here, students all over the country followed his lead, to include this creative effort at St. Patrick's in Menasha.
April 27, 1901, Neenah Times
From a neighboring newspaper to the south comes this fair warning to young proper ladies that all is not necessarily as it seems in regards to matters of the heart. Good advice for any era.
April 15, 1880, Saturday Evening Press
Looking back, especially in this sesquicentennial year, it is easy to romanticize the past and overlook that everything wasn't always hunky dory in our fair city. It seems the criminal element can't be forgotten as far as the Twin Cities go. Curious that the Press writer believes it's an inside job and not attributed to outsiders. I wonder what he knows. Hmmm.
April 30, 1964, Oshkosh Northwestern (Neenah-Menasha Edition)
I understand the need for destruction in this case but find it a bit amusing the amount of ceremony that went into to it, to include this photo opportunity. As if the signing of the legal documents wasn't enough, we have photographic proof (sort of) of the final disposition of the unused bonds. Today, perhaps we'd just feed them into a shredder? And take a video of it with our cellphones.
April 10, 1964, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
I apologize for the bite someone took out of this photo but it still showcases how Menasha, once in a while, got a name brand guest speaker to entertain the students with a provocative presentation about love, sex, and marriage. And what could be more timely for high school students in the 60's than those topics? In a few short years, the decade would really start in earnest and all bets would be off. At the time of this photo, aside from The Beatles, it might just as well have been the 1950's. (With the demise of her venue as a regular part of people's routines, Miss Landers might have had a hard time getting a footing in today's newspaper-less media environment.)
April 5, 1965, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
Shades of the Harlem Globetrotters, this football-style exhibition on the Menasha High basketball court had to have been a tongue-in-cheek hit, knowing how beloved the Packers are (and were). And since we were all in on the joke, it made it even more of a fun time. Why, just look at the faces in the stands. Menasha had a long history of such antics, to include donkey basketball games and semi-pro softball exhibitions, such as The King and His Court. What fun!