Be Careful What You Wish For....

 

This page from the 1935 Menasha High yearbook, The Nicolet, where its editors pleaded for a new and improved school building, was surprisingly prophetic.  As most of us know, the school burned the very next year in March of 1936. The fire’s exact origin is unknown, but it was thought to have started in the machine shop. To keep the school going, classes were distributed among the remaining schools and other public buildings until the new high school could be completed in 1938.  Despite the tone inferred from the yearbook, plans were already in motion to design and build a new school at the time of the fire, though funding had not yet been finalized. Still, this added footnote by the yearbook gives the event an eerie circumstance the school did not deserve.

Oh, My...

November 15, 1968, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

Let's start the week on a humorous note with our diver in training having a moment.  Assuming this isn't staged, the photographer, with his fast shutter speed, caught his subject's candid expression at the most opportune moment of all to place this photo into competition for the pic of the week category.   I'm sure the YWCA diving team had a great laugh over this for weeks on end.  

Wee Nippee

November 18, 1961, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

It's not often we get a glance inside the Wee Nippee lounge in the Hotel Menasha.  But, things happen, and the end result is this.  And in spite of what the Northwestern thinks, there are two "e's" at the end of "Wee Nippee."  

I think the owner of the establishment would know the intended spelling.  

Gilbert's, Part II

 

November 15, 1961, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

Nicolet sixth graders continue their tour and learn how lined paper is made, something they are intimately familiar with as a finished product.  I wonder how many of these kids were inspired by the science of papermaking and entered careers in the paper industry.  

Slurry With the Fringe on Top

November 15, 1961, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

I know the tour guides prompted the kids to do this little demonstration, but in the absence of that, some stalwart student might have dipped his fingers in the slurry anyway and discovered it for himself.  Like the kids in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the heart wants what the heart wants, and temptation is sometimes overwhelming, as we know.  That fella on the extreme right is especially proud of his find.  We'll have more from this field trip later this week.

Literary Stand-Outs

November 23, 1981, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

Adorable first graders from Clovis Grove dress up as their literary heroes at their school library during Book Week.  If memory serves me correctly, I was a fan of The Fire Cat as well.  Pickles the cat gets adopted by the firehouse and makes good on his plan to be a good fire cat for the other firefighters.  See, how those stories stick with you?  Just don't ask me about other favorites, Scuffy the Tugboat or Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.

Fun Stuff

 November 13, 1969, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

There's a lot to unpack (and a whole lot of fun) in this compendium of articles from the local newspapers from a century ago.  Evaluating this era with the modern age is often like comparing apples and oranges, yet it is an irresistible premise.  Over time we can see the evolving loosening of social mores while the late 19th century maintains a stranglehold on social decorum and telling it like it is in a moment in time.  While euphemisms abound aplenty there is still an honesty evident that is often lacking in modern news reporting.  The word "amused" is apropos for those inclined to make a deep dive into the past via their local library's microfilm collection of historic newspapers.