Alexander N. Strange

from Memories of Doty Island (1999):

   Alexander Strange was born in Menasha in 1856. His education was in local elementary and high schools. He married Jane Chapman, a very talented and colorful person and daughter of Mr. John Chapman, formerly of Chapman & Hewitt Woolen mills. She loved people and entertained lavishly. She wrote the lyrics for a song used in 1912 for the Menasha Homecoming celebration. Eddie Hanson, the organist at the Doty Theater in Neenah, wrote the music.
   For a time Alexander moved to Watertown, Wisconsin, where his father-in-law operated a woolen mill. Alexander managed the plant until 1895 when he returned to Menasha and managed the John Strange Paper Mills which his brother owned. This did not work out well, so he and others established the Island Paper Company which bought Howard's company. They stayed in business until the 1920's, making corrugated paper which aggravated the citizens because of the odor which it emitted. They called it "strawboard."
   Alexander built the home at 515 Keyes Street in Menasha. They had only one child, a son, Alexander Thomas, who carried on the ownership and control of the Island Paper Company when he grew up. When he married, he and his wife moved in with his parents. They continued to live there even after their two children, Jane Clair and Alexander N., were born.

 Alexander N. Strange home at 515 Keyes Street

Mr. and Mrs. Strange in front of their home in their chauffeur-driven 1911 Oldsmobile