Downtown Looking West

I like this view of Main Street, looking west in the 1940s which shows the commercial aspects of town very nicely.  From Druck’s in the foreground at the right, all down the line to include a dentist’s office, ice cream parlor, etc.   Then across the street, the shoe repair, paint store, and various drinking establishments.  That the bulk of Main Street is devoid of cars, shows a fortunate happenstance for the photographer or was it posed this way to show off the new paving job?  Is that why the policeman doesn’t seem to have a care about the jaywalking going on?    

Many thanks to all of you who came out to the Menasha Public Library last night for my presentation.  I had a great time meeting all of you and I hope you enjoyed the program. 

Reminder

Just a reminder...I am appearing at the Menasha Public Library tonight at 7 pm.   I will talk about the book, show some photographs that didn't make the cut, and hopefully, get to hear some of your own reminiscences about Menasha.  I will be selling, and signing (if desired) books afterwards.  The book sells for $21.99 (no sales tax).  We will accept cash, of course, and checks can be made out to the Menasha Historical Society.  Please join me in celebrating this fine town.  I hope to see you there!

Menasha Lock

The Menasha Lock is part of the historic Fox River lock system. Constructed between 1848 and the late 1870s, this system was once part of a twenty four lock system that connected the Great Lakes with ports on the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.  This hand-operated lock permits passage of boaters from Little Lake Butte des Morts to Lake Winnebago. In the early 20^th century, Menasha and Neenah were among the world’s largest producers of paper. From the 1850s through the early 1900s, the steamboats, tugs, and freighters that passed through the Menasha lock fueled this industry, bringing in timber from the north and carrying paper to ports throughout the world. There is an unoccupied two story side gabled lock tender house at the lock site that is not on the National Historic Register.

The Menasha Lock has been operated continually from the 1850’s to the present. In the early 1970’s a major reconstruction occurred and steel gates were added. In 2004, the Fox River Navigational System Authority (FRNSA) was established by the State of Wisconsin to revive the system.

R. M. Scott

The “Commemorative Biographical Record of the Fox River Valley" begins its sketch on Reuben Scott with: "among the representative men of Winnebago county, none perhaps ever exercised more influence on the people, or more impressed them with his own merits than [this] gentleman." It goes on to tell how he attended winter schools back home at Clarenceville, Missisquoi County, Quebec, Canada and assisted his father on the farm during the summers. Born February 10, 1827, when he was 18, he found work on farms in New York and Vermont before going to Wisconsin in 1848. ("The History of Winnebago County" by Harney, p. 229 says he migrated from Vermont to Menasha in the fall of 1852). Nevertheless, he settled on wild land in an area that was to become Menasha, clearing and working the land and building his home, "all with his own hands, toil and skill". He ventured largely into real estate for a time until 1860 when he and a partner, Mr. Fisher, purchased the Star Flouring Mill in Menasha.  In 1869 he built the National Hotel which at that time was considered the grandest building in the city.  In 1867 he built "one of the finest residences in the city...which for elegance and commodiousness is unsurpassed".  R.M. Scott invested heavily in city property, farm land, manufacturing companies, and employed many men for lumbering.  Among his many other contributions is that he built, on contract, the first 64 miles of the Wisconsin Central railroad in 121 days, a feat never before accomplished in the state.  He was "noted far and wide for his executive ability and administrative powers...was a.. self-made man, one who, unaided save by his own willing hands, indomitable perseverance and sound judgment, scaled the ladder of success.”  He died July 5, 1890.  Of such stuff were Menasha’s founders made.

Winz Brewery

The Winz brewery was originally built on Manitowoc Street in 1860 by Misters Hall and Loescher. It changed hands many times before Werner Winz purchased all interests in the brewery in 1881. In 1888, it became known as the Menasha Brewing Company.  It burned in 1895.

Winz built this replacement structure three stories high and of a fireproof construction.  It was located on the corner of First and Manitowoc Streets. The brewery pictured remained in operation until Prohibition caused it to close in 1920. At its peak, Winz brewed 5000 barrels of beer yearly and shipped them all over Wisconsin. Today, a small park, Winz Park, resides on the site.

George Banta

From the Dictionary of Wisconsin biography:   

Born in Covington, Kentucky in 1857, George Banta graduated from Indiana University in 1876, and was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1878. He practiced law and sold insurance before moving to Wisconsin in 1884 as an agent for the Phenix Insurance Company of Brooklyn, New York.  After a brief residence in Madison, he moved to Menasha about 1885, staying in the insurance business until 1908, but after 1901 was primarily occupied with the George Banta Publishing Company, of which he remained president until his death. The company expanded rapidly and became one of the finest book publishing concerns in the state. In addition to book printing, the company specialized in the publications of learned societies and college fraternities, and, by 1930, it was printing some 130 periodicals. He served as alderman (1890-1891), and mayor (1892, 1895, 1902-1903) of Menasha.  An active businessman, he was president of the Central Paper Company of Menasha and a director of the First National Bank of Menasha. He died in 1935.


Quick reminder...the book is released today!  Click the cover page to order now...or see me at the Menasha Public Library this Thursday night at 7 to get your copy. 

All Aboard!

Milwaukee and Northern Engine No. 18 idles at the Menasha depot. With the building of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, a branch of the Milwaukee and Northern was built from Menasha to Hilbert in 1871 to give the Wisconsin Central a connection to Milwaukee. Eventually, the line was sold to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific, better known as the “Milwaukee Road.”

Let me take the time to mention my appearance at the Menasha Public Library next Thursday, June 28th at 7 pm.  I will talk about the evolution of the book, show some photographs that didn't make the cut, and elicit some of your own reminiscences about Menasha.  Perhaps, you'll like what you've seen and maybe I can sell you a copy.  (Of course, I really know that you're coming for the free cookies!)  But please join me in celebrating this fine town on the 28th.  I hope to see you there!

John Strange

John Strange grew up in Menasha from the first year of his life, settling on Doty Island with his parents in 1852. The John Strange Paper Company grew out of the old John Strange Pail and Tub Factory which was founded in 1881. Incorporated as John Strange Paper in 1891 and located off the Tayco Street Bridge, it made kraft paper, the kind used for brown paper grocery and lunch bags. In 1969, Menasha Corporation bought out and gained full ownership of the John Strange Paper Company, which was then renamed the Menasha Paperboard Mill.  John Strange was elected Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin in 1908 and served one term from 1909 to 1911. He was a strident supporter of Prohibition and during World War I, he likened American brewers to our opponent in the war, saying, “…the worst of all our German enemies, the most treacherous, the most menacing are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller.”   When he died in 1923, he was president of the John Strange Paper Company, the John Strange Pail Company and the Stevens Point Pulp and Paper Company, as well as the director of R. McMillian Company. 

Prospector Days

I am still researching Prospector Days and found this wonderful two page feature from the Post-Crescent's magazine supplement from July 1963.  What a simpler and exciting time!  I remember looking forward to summer each year because Prospector Days was coming...that and, of course, school being out, and the Banta picnic at Jefferson Park, and the pool being open, etc., etc.  It's hard to imagine kids nowadays going crazy in a dig for pennies, but to my young eyes, it was an untold fortune.  I wish the graphics were clearer but you know what I'm talking about. 

Menasha Wood Split Pulley Company

The Menasha Wood Split Pulley Company was founded in 1888 by P.V. Lawson, Jr., attorney, author, politician, orator, and mayor of Menasha.   His factory on Little Lake Butte des Morts at the foot of Sixth Street made wood split pulleys which were exported all over the world. The plant consisted of a main factory building, power house, machine shop, bolt factory, warehouse, dry kilns, paint shop, office, and extensive lumber yards.  The factory employed 100 employees when in full operation and reportedly made 150 pulleys daily, besides other wood specialized goods to include hand truck, cogs, spools, picker sticks for woolen mills, cloth boards, paper mill trucks, elevators, trunk slats, and screen doors.  Lawson was mayor from 1886-1889 and would serve additional terms in 1893 and 1896.

Golden Rule Clothing (Grove's)

Mr. Frank Grove ran his clothing store on Main Street in Menasha.  Originally started as The Golden Rule Clothing House, it was a fixture at 220 Main for many, many years.  In time, it became, as we all know, as Grove's Clothing.  In the top photo, the rear of one of the waterfront businesses is festooned with a Golden Rule advertisement for the benefit of those entering the city via the Mill Street Bridge, or, as this book terms it, Reed's Bridge.  As the calendar said some years later, Grove's had "Everything for the lads and their dads." 

Landgraf's Hotel

Built by Valentine Landgraf, a saloonkeeper who had arrived just five years earlier from Montana, the Landgraf Hotel's first section was built in 1871 at the intersection of Tayco and Main Streets. In 1877, he added on to the building and in 1880, he bought the building just east of his property to complete his hotel.   In its prime, the hotel had 30 rooms, was gas-lighted and steam-heated. The hotel ran free buses to meet all trains and also offered a billiards room and a grocery. On this space, the Brin Theater was built around 1928.

Menasha Public Library

The first Menasha public library opened in upstairs rooms in the Tuchscherer and Schlegal department store at the corner of Chute and Milwaukee Streets in 1896.

Lucy Lee Pleasants (sister-in-law of George Banta, founder of the Banta Corporation) pushed for establishing the library and became its first librarian, holding the position until her retirement in 1919.  According to Miss Pleasants, in the first month of operation, she recorded that "...there were given out at the Menasha Library 1,172 books: of these, 110 were German, 62 were Polish, 42 history and biography, 42 literature, 5 natural science, 2 social science and 2 useful arts.  The rest were fiction.” 

In 1898, Elisha D. Smith, founder of the Menasha Woodenware, donated the land and money to build a library on Mill Street.  The library was named the Elisha D. Smith Public Library after he passed away in 1899.  This building on Mill Street was used until 1969, when a new building was built at 440 First Street. 

Menasha Fire Department

From the June,1898 Menasha Press (Souvenir Edition):

"...For forty years Menasha has had a volunteer fire department ranking foremost among Wisconsin organizations of the kind.  First it was the pioneer bucket brigade; then the old hand engine companies with their showy uniforms, and lastly the consolidated fire department of the present.  Many a disastrous fire has been stayed in its destructive progress by the brave and heroic boys who 'ran with the old machine' and fearlessly faced death in the faithful discharge of duty.

The department today is in better condition than at any previous time in its history.  It amounts to efficiency to a paid department- in fact, the engineer, teamster, and assistant are under full pay, while the members receive a yearly salary of $60 each.  The fire station is in the city hall, where City Teamster Pankratz has two splendid spans of horses always ready for service.  Directly in front of where the Silsby steamer is stationed is arranged a set of drop harness, and another set is suspended in front of the hose wagon on the other side of the hall.  A system of electric bells and apparatus is also in evidence, connecting the hall with the engineer's house and also opening automatically the doors leading from the horse's stalls.  So perfect are the arrangements that in less than one minute from the sounding of the first alarm, horses and steamer are on their way to the fire.  The fire hall is equipped with two steamers - a Silsby and a Mansfield- as well as a large hose wagon, and a hook and ladder truck.  In the second story of the hall is the firemen's sleeping room from which descends a pole affording the firemen on night duty a quick means of reaching the ground floor in case of an alarm."

1st National Bank

FNB-Fox Valley, once known as 1st National Bank of Menasha, marks 125 years of continuous service to the community this year.  After being situated next to the Hotel Menasha for many years, the 1st National Bank moved several doors down on Main Street, building on the site of the old Valley Theater in 1964.  This mid-1960s photograph of Main Street looking east looks very different from today as the marina has taken over this property and the bank has moved even further west on Main Street.  Despite its name change, the bank has weathered history from the horse and buggy days to now. 

Children's Bicycle Parade

July 4, 1915 sees Independence Day celebrated in style with a children’s bicycle parade down Broad Street.  “Penny-farthing” was the term for such conveyances as that ridden by the boy near the first telephone pole.  They were the first machines to be called "bicycles."  Although they are now most commonly known by this name, this term was probably not used until they were nearly outdated; the first recorded print reference is 1891 in Bicycling News. It comes from the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view resembles a penny leading a farthing. In the late 1890s, the term "ordinary" began to be used, to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles, which was the forerunner to what we know today as bicycles.  Although the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era.  Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport. 

A good zoom of the photo shows that many of the kids are wearing clown costumes.  A circus theme perhaps?  And we've seen that light hanging over the street before; last week's photos of Main Street featured it prominently. 

Main Street

This undated view of Main Street (top photo) is reminiscent of the cover of the Menasha book (bottom photo taken 1910), but looks the other direction, towards the west.  The top photo seems older, even though several of the same stylistic elements are still in play here, to include the prominent "ice cream soda" sign.  From this vantage point, we get a pretty good idea of the electrification of the city, to include a long view of the tracks for those electrified streetcars.  Contrast the horse and buggy in the top photo with the automobile in the bottom.  With that BPOE convention coming to town in 1910, Menasha strived to be as modern as possible, though the horse and buggy was still a vital transportation option.

Valley Fair

Construction on Valley Fair began on July 1, 1953. It was located in the Town of Menasha until the land on which it stood was annexed to Appleton. The mall was built by Hamilton Construction Company under the name Hoffman Shopping Centers, Inc.   Designed by George Narovec, it was one of the first malls in Wisconsin to be enclosed.  The mall's grand opening was March 10, 1955 and it opened fully on August 11, 1955.  The mall originally had six stores: Krambo Supermarket (later renamed Kroger), House of Camera & Cards, Badger Paint & Hardware, Donald's, Hamilton Bakery, and Eddie's Self-Service Liquor to be joined later by such national retailers as Woolworth, W. T. Grant, Walgreens, and Thom McAn shoes.

Even though Grant's, one of the mall's anchors closed in 1976 due to the company's bankruptcy, Kohl's moved in shortly thereafter and the mall continued.  It had little competition until the mid 1980s when the super-sized Fox River Mall was developed and built off US 41.  Attempts at making it a family-oriented venue failed and by 2007, the mall was ready for the wrecking ball. 

Streetcars

Menasha was serviced by electric streetcars from 1898 to 1925.  The general consensus has traditionally been that streetcar service ended because of the rise of the automobile.  But for Neenah and Menasha, at least, the official reason cited was that the streetcar company (Wisconsin Traction, Light, Heat, and Power Company) didn’t want to be responsible for paying for new bridges.  Moreover, they alleged that there was sufficient “motor bus” service to take up the slack. Streetcar service lasted in Appleton and Oshkosh until 1930.

Menasha High School

The first high school graduating class was in 1876 and the school was on the site of the present public library at First and Racine streets.  It was known as a "union school" because it housed both primary and secondary classes.  As you can see from this extract from the 1916 Menasha High School annual (its first), in many years, the number of graduates was in the single digits and some years had none.  A new high school was built in 1895 on the same grounds and lasted until it burned in 1936.  In 1938, the present high school was completed at Seventh and Racine Streets. 

Jean Nicolet

In 1634 Jean Nicolet, an emissary of Gov. Samuel de Champlain of New France (Quebec, Canada), landed at Red Banks on the shore of Green Bay.  Nicolet expected to meet Asians on his voyage and donned an elaborate Oriental robe before landing.  Brandishing two pistols, he fired into the air to impress upon the Winnebago Indians who met him that he was in authority.  Later, after travelling down the Fox River, Nicolet came ashore near what is today’s Smith Park.   This 1934 stamp commemorates the 300th anniversary of Nicolet’s arrival in Wisconsin and uses the famous 1910 painting by Franz Rohrbeck.

Tuchscherer's

from the Semi-Centennial edition of the Menasha Press, June, 1898:

"Henry J. Tuchscherer was born in this city 37 years ago. At the age of 17 he began to learn the shoemakers' trade of Jacob Stilp; later he ran a shop of his own, and on December 27, 1887, embarked in the shoe business in the old frame building that stood next to the Arnold block. On November 8, 1888, finding his quarters too small for his fast-increasing business, he moved into his present place of business at the corner of Main and Mill Street.  Here he has the finest-appointed shoe store in the two cities, with beautiful mirrored display windows and everything arranged with admirable taste.

Mr. Tuchscherer's splendid success in business shows what a young man with grit, brains, enterprise and a keen appreciation and knowledge of the merits and science of advertising, for in the last named respect Menasha had no more skilled merchant. He has a genius for catchy advertising and the public is always eager to read what he has to say. Mr. Tuchscherer probably sells more shoes than any other dealer in the twin cities, and all because he thoroughly understands the requisites of business success. His family consisting of his wife and four children occupy rooms above the store. Mr Tuchscherer is ably assisted in the store by his brother-in-law Peter Kemmeter. "

Later, Peter Kemmeter opened a neighborhood grocery at 303 Ahnaip Street.  The one which  According to Memories of Doty Island : A Link Between Two Cities (1999) he apparently had not found his "niche" in life until after World War I when he built the store. His family lived upstairs and all members helped wait on customers, stock shelves, and did whatever else needed to be done. By the time World War II was over, Clarence, the son, took over the running of the store and it continued to do business until the supermarkets gave too much competition.