Some Facts About Menasha (1898)

From the June,1898 Souvenir Edition of the Menasha Press:

At the present writing Menasha has:
Two large department stores

Four large general stores

Two shoe stores

Two clothing and furnishings stores       

Sixteen grocery stores                     

Six meat markets                               

Two banks                                  

Three hardware stores                     

Two drug stores                           

Four hotels                                 

Four restaurants                         

Twenty-three saloons                        

Three flour and feed stores                

Three new depots

Three coal and wood yards

One gun store

Three jewelers

Five bakeries

Two furniture stores

Two millinery stores

One variety store

Three tailoring establishments

Five barber shops

The mayor and aldermen serve without salary.
The assessed valuation of Menasha is about $1,200,000.
Menasha has about three miles of electric street railway within its limits.   
Menasha is the second city of Winnebago county in point of population.
Property is assessed at less than 33 1/3 per cent of its value on an average.
The Wisconsin Telephone company has about 100 subscribers in the city.
The city is lighted at night by seventy-five arc lamps, costing about $5,000 per year.
The tax levy in Menasha has never been above 3.5 per cent. This year it was under that figure.
Menasha's healthfulness may be judged from the fact that with a population of 7,000 it supports only four doctors.
The first white child born in Menasha was Lydia Hunt, born in 1848. She is now Mrs. George Wells and lives at Stedman, Ga.
Menasha has two daily papers The Evening Press and The Evening Breeze; and three weeklies: The Press, The Breeze and The Anzeiger (German)
The police force of the city consists of four-a chief and three patrolmen, besides several special policemen who serve at depots and factories without pay.

The total bonded indebtedness of the city at present is about $60,000--all representing money expended for needed public improvements, such as schools and bridges.

Although containing a population of 7,000, the city limits embrace only four sections of land. If Menasha should appropriate as much outlying territory as many towns of 2,000 and 3,000 have its population would not fall much short of 10,000. There are few cities in Wisconsin whose principal residence streets are so beautifully wooded and shaded as those of Menasha.  "Forest City" would be a proper name for the place to adopt were it not already appropriated by a half dozen Wisconsin cities whose shade trees do not compare with those of Menasha.