Frog Legs and Greyhound Buses

November 20, 1934, Menasha Record

Due to the news that Greyhound bus service suddenly ceased operations to the Fox Valley yesterday, I offer a happier time for the bus line when such travel was more acceptable.  Greyhound was founded in 1914 and quickly became the largest provider of intercity bus transportation in the country.  The bus line had a long presence in northeast Wisconsin. It once had multiple routes a day coming through Appleton and Green Bay, but that has been scaled back considerably in recent years.  When the C&NW ceased operations in 1971, my aunt who lived in Milwaukee and had previously used the train to visit exclusively, then had to rely upon the Greyhound to come up to Menasha.  I always had thought, as a kid, that the train was so much more glamorous than the bus.

Hey Kiddies!

October 29, 1943, Menasha Record

In the midst of World War II, the Brin ensured the kids of Menasha had a good time for Halloween.  You can't go wrong with the King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers.  Or, for the older set, the midnight show could be fun with spine tingling tales of horror to be shown.  It sounds like it was a blast for all ages! 

Halloween Visitor

October 17, 1966, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

Adding a bit of whimsy and frivolity to the fall holiday, these ladies decorated their front yard in fun fashion.  And judging from the residents' names, I suspect this Halloween visitor, if he had an identity at all, was simply known as "John Smith." 

Souvenir Postal Cards

November 1, 1904, Menasha Record

At the height of the post card craze, pre-World War I, and when the best postcards came from Europe (mainly Germany), Menasha's local druggist John Rosch was on it.  For all I know, some of the cards in my collection might have come from his store.  We've spoken a little bit about Mr. Rosch before.  He was a one-term mayor of Menasha (1894) and was said to have been the first druggist to have a soda fountain in the city.  A Democrat, he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention several times and even entertained William Jennings Bryan at his home during a speaking engagement in the city. He served on the Menasha school board and was even nominated as the Democratic candidate for the governorship, which he declined.  In 2014, we spoke about his distinctive residence in the blog:  http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2014/06/george-stein-house.html 

January 15, 1887, Saturday Evening Press

Monotype Machine

October 13, 1920, Menasha Record

From its earliest days on Main Street, the Banta Company was devoted to quality printing.  With its then-new location on Ahnaip Street, the company finally had the space to expand its operations and extend its production line, using the most modern equipment available.  Banta, in this ad, showcases some of that technology it was so proud of.

Alien Permits

October 24, 1918, Neenah Daily Times

June 8, 1917, Menasha Record

A while back, I lamented that I hadn't kept us up to date with what Menasha was experiencing during our involvement in World War I as we commemorate 100 years since the war ended.  I first touched upon this particular issue in 2013 after I had located an article about renaming Berlin Street as Paris Street in the midst of World War I.  Evidently, anti-German sentiment had run high enough at the time, despite Menasha's extensive German heritage, to cause this change to be passed by the city council: https://menashabook.blogspot.com/2013/07/95-years-ago.html  In that blog post, I detailed and showed the identity papers my grandfather had to carry around for the rest of the war, despite having gained his own American citizenship in 1906.  

In researching the war year of 1918, I came across an evolution of the alien registration act, now requiring women to be registered, as evidenced by the first news article.  Of course, one can argue that special times dictate special circumstances and we were at war.  America took its xenophobia to a higher level when it imprisoned Japanese-Americans and their families during World War II.  I'll get off my soapbox now, but I shudder when I see the anti-foreigner biases in this country today and the potential for that.  History often repeats itself. 

New Fire Truck

October 22, 1946, Appleton Post-Crescent

What could be better on a fine Fall afternoon...gathering with friends down by the river, watching the new fire truck in action.  At least for the time being, it beat raking leaves.