Christmas in July

With summertime in full swing, I thought it was time for a little Christmas in July.  Of course, the real thing will be here before you know it! 

(In a sobering, historical context, this issue of the News-Record came out just 6 days after the Kennedy assassination; America must have had a bittersweet Christmas that year.  But in only a little over two months, The Beatles would storm America's shores on February 9, 1964, kicking off the "Swinging 60's," as a cultural-defining decade.  Heady times, indeed.)   

Northwestern Engraving

This building sits in the Washington Street Historic District on Doty Island.  Built around 1930, this was part of an effort instigated by the Menasha Wooden Ware to create a business district in what they termed, the “English style of architecture,” to optimize use of the US 41 corridor which was then running down Washington Street and into Menasha. The Brin Building completed in 1928 was another part of this initiative but the rest of the business district was never realized.  Jefferson Elementary School is another example of this Tudor/Elizabethan Revival movement of architecture, distinguished by its fine half-timbering, slate roof, and leaded windows.  This ad is taken from the 1949 Menasha High yearbook, The Nicolet.

Slippery Seal

This ad from September 1969 showcases the latest attraction at the Valley Fair shopping center- the "Sensation of the Nation," the Slippery Seal, outside the W.T. Grant Company. No longer did we need to wait for the periodic carnivals to set up shop for 3-4 day stretches each year at Valley Fair or Fox Point Plaza in Neenah.  With the slide at one end and the go cart track at the other, there was full time recreation to be had while Mom and Dad shopped in climate controlled comfort.  

Post Office Dedicated

From The Daily Northwestern, July 10, 1933

NEW POSTOFFICE AT MENASHA ONE OF REAL BEAUTY

Thousands Visit New Federal Building When Thrown Open to Public Inspection

Menasha—More than 6,000 adults, according to critical estimate, filed their way into the new Federal post office building here Saturday, between the hours of 2 to 9 p.m. to voice their approval of the latest addition to Menasha’s progress.  Beautiful baskets of flowers carried expressions of congratulations to Postmaster C. A. Loescher and members of his staff and brought a touch of added beauty to the surroundings.

Expressions of delight were almost unanimous as visitors were ushered into the main entrance for a first hand inspection of the beautiful lobby.  Members of the postal staff served as guides as visitors were escorted first to the second floor and then to the workshop and basement.

The lobby, in particular, attracted most favorable comment, but enthusiastic approval was accorded the work room and executive departments.

Office accommodations for war department, internal revenue and civil service operations are located on the second floor.  The postmaster’s office is located at the southeast corner of the structure, and to the north of the lobby is the office of the assistant postmaster and money order clerk.  The work room extends entirely across the west half of the building and entrance is gained to the work room by way of the west side of the building.

(Prior to this, the post office had been located at 221 Main Street, roughly across the street from Grove's Clothing Store.)

Unbridled Honesty in Sportswriting

I found this passage in the first Menasha High yearbook to be particularly refreshing and charming in its honesty.  In today's competitive sports culture, could anyone ever write such a frank assessment of the team's season anymore?

from the 1916 Menasha High School annual (its first):

ATHLETICS

Basketball

The basketball season in Menasha High School was unsuccessful. This was due to the lack of practice on the part of the team. The boys had only one practice in a week, when they should have had a good one every day during the basketball season. The players did excellent playing when considering the time used for practicing, and they deserve no small amount of praise for the work which they did. The team was composed of excellent stock and therefore they surely could have had a good season had they had enough practice. The regular team was made up of Nathan Calder, left guard; Leslie Remmel, right guard; John Nagel, center; Elmer Williams, left forward; Carlton Remmel, right forward; John Nagel, center; and Alfred Hahn, Ferris Griswold, John Schierl, and Roman Fahrbach acting as substitutes at different games.

Next season, when we have our gym, the team will be able to practice regularly and then a more successful season will be witnessed. Leslie Remmel, John Nagel, and John Schierl will be out of high school, leaving Calder, Williams, C. Remmel, Griswold, Hahn, and Fahrbach to hold up the basketball end of athletics.

Silas Bullard

from THE MENASHA PRESS SOUVENIR EDITION, June 1898

  Hon Silas Bullard, representative of the Second district in the Wisconsin assembly, was born in Greenfield, Franklin county, Mass., on December 9, 1841. Like many another successful American in fact, like nearly all successful Americans, Mr. Bullard was not born with the traditional "golden spoon" in his mouth, but was obliged to win his way through life by hard work from early boyhood up. During his younger years he attended the common schools, and later entered Powers Institute at Bernardstown, Mass. Vacation times were not spent at play or in idleness, but were put in at farm work, whereby he earncd  his education not only at Powers, but later at Bridgeton Academy in Maine, where his schooling was finished. In 1867 he went to Portland, Maine and took up the study of law.
  Not long after his admission to the bar Mr. Bullard came West, and on August 4, 1871, took up his residence in Menasha, opening a law office. In 1873 and 1874 he was part owner of The Menasha Press, and did considerable editorial work on the paper. For many years he also acted as correspondent for a number of the leading Chicago papers, so that his experience with newspaper work has been by no means insignificant. During the twenty-seven years that Mr. Bullard has been a resident of Menasha he has been almost continuously honored by the people with one position of trust after another. First it was superintendent of schools for six successive terms; then mayor of the city in 1882; then county supervisor for seven years; then district attorney for four years, from '85 to'89; city attorney in 1882-3 and in 1893-4, 1894-5, 1895-6, and during the past four years member of the legislature from the Second assembly district. It is doubtful if any other Menashan has seen as much public service, and it is certain that no Menashan of the present or past has fulfilled every duty more faithfully or merited the trust and confidence of the people more fully than has Mr. Bullard.
   During all these years of public service, however, Mr. Bullard has not neglected his law business, and today he has a practice that takes him before almost every circuit bench in Northern Wisconsin and not infrequently to the Supreme court of the state. He is recognized by all who know him as one of the most careful, conservative and conscientious men in his profession, and his daily life in and out of court stands as a notable refutation of the slander that no man can be a lawyer and an honest man at the same time. In 1894 Mr. Bullard formed a law partnership with M. M. Schoetz, which still exists.
  As a legislator Mr. Bullard has won laurels of which any man might well be proud. During the session of 1896-7 he was one of the leaders in the lower house, serving as chairman of the judiciary committee, and exerting an influence for good on the legislation enacted by that body that was recognized all over the state. No member was listened to with more close attention during debate, and in committee his work was always productive of good results. The writer of this has known Mr. Bullard intimately for a quarter of a century, and he feels that he is indulging in no unwarranted commendation when he says that he knows of no cleaner, fairer or more upright man in public life. Mr. Bullard has a comfortable home on Broad Street, where he spends much of his leisure time. His family consists of his wife, and a daughter and son Mrs. Caroline Bullard Spengler, who lives at Hortonville, and Harry Bullard, of this city.
   It may be interesting to relate here that just around the corner from the office in which Mr. Bullard was pursuing his law studies in Portland, Maine, a great, overgrown, but exceedingly jovial and happy-dispositioned young lawyer was making his professional start. He was one of the kind that didn't seem to care a continental whether clients came or not, and few would have predicted anything but the most commonplace sort of a career for him, and yet today that awkward, briefless young barrister is Congressman Thos. B. Reid, speaker of the House of Representatives, and one of the best known among contemporary Americans.

In later years, Mr. Bullard  was vice-president of the First National Bank of Menasha and secretary and treasurer of the Paul Paper Company.  He died in 1922. 

Meadowview Dairy

                                                 

 

                      

Local dairies began closing in the 1960's due to the high costs associated with maintaining a small dairy.  In the mid 1940s, the Twin Cities had eight independent dairies.  They included Eskdale Dairy, Murphy Dairy, Neenah Milk Products (Galloway), and Marten’s, all in Neenah and Roselawn, Gear, Meadowview and Home Dairies in Menasha. 

Meadowview closed in late December of 1967 after 47 years of business in the Twin Cities because of the high costs of operation and the difficulties with small dairies competing with store prices on a retail delivery basis.

After Meadowview closed, the only remaining independent dairy in the Twin Cities area was Marten’s Dairy.  Morning Glory had already purchased the retail milk business from Galloway Company earlier in December 1967 and Menasha’s Gear Dairy merged with Morning Glory in May of the same year. 

Menasha Pool

July 26, 1957 Oshkosh Daily Northwestern

Expect Large Crowd to See Menasha Pool

MENASHA - A large opening day crowd is expected to pass through the doors of Menasha’s new $400,000 swimming pool, Sunday at 2 p.m.

The filling of the pool with water began at 9 a.m. Thursday and was completed by noon today. 

The main pool, bathhouse, water treatment building and all electrical and plumbing work has been completed.  Cleaning and painting in the small wading pool remains.  The public will be asked to cooperate by staying out of the incompleted sections.  Rope barriers will be erected prior to the Sunday opening.

Capacity of the Menasha pool, when the two smaller pools are put into use, will be 1,300.  Hourly checks will be made to keep the number of swimmers in safe limits.

One of the features of the pool, the bleacher deck on top of the bathhouse, is also expected to be busy Sunday.  Open free of charge, this area can accommodate 700. 

St. Thomas Episcopal Church

The original portion of St. Thomas Episcopal Church was completed in January 1916, approximately four months after the articles of incorporation were filed and the name of the church chosen. This original portion of the church was estimated to cost $12,000 and prior to its completion, services were held in the Menasha public library. An existing residence north of the new church was utilized as a combined rectory and parish hall and a gym/meeting hall addition was made in 1921.

By 1955, attendance rendered it necessary to tear down the parish house and build a new, larger facility. On 28 February 1961, fire seriously damaged the west (altar end) of the nave of the church and services were temporarily held in the Neenah theater building. Following damage assessment, it was determined that a new church, or a significant addition, was needed to fulfill the needs of the congregation. After reviewing a number of design options, Harry Weese & Associates of Chicago was chosen as the architect and groundbreaking for the new church occurred on 12 August 1962. Witnessing the erection of the 120-foot spire (which was fabricated in Fond du Lac) was cited as a major community event.  Since its inception in 1915, the church served both Neenah and Menasha Episcopalians.  Following construction of the new $370,000 facility (dedicated in June 1963), it truly serves both communities just by virtue of its location, as the main entrance is located in the City of Neenah, while the nave is in the City of Menasha.

Last of the Pail Makers

Taken in 1956, this photo shows the last group of workers that made pails for the Menasha Wooden Ware, just before the factory closed its doors, ending a tradition that had begun in 1849.  Menasha had once been known as the "Pail-making Capital of the World." 

The Twin City News-Record commented that this "was the same pail that Grandma got when she went to the old general store and asked the clerk to include butter in her provisions for the month.  And it's that old pail, always looking the same, that Dad got when he bought nails to repair the house or barn.,  And it's the pail the kids saw under the Christmas tree, but which they were too busy to notice because they were occupied with removing the candy from it.  And yes, it's that pail that once held such diverse items as pigs' feet or shredded tobacco, jelly or pickles; maple syrup, or medication for horses' hooves...."

Standing from left, Stanley Sperger, Frank Schmidt, Mike Mayefski, Ben Dombrofski, Emmanuel LeComte, and Walter Stommel.  Seated: Bob LeComte, Dick Fox, Stanley Novakofski, Gene Verkuilen, and Dick Buss. 

Germania Opera House (Germania Hall)

Germania Hall on 320 Chute Street was home to the Germania Benevolent Society in Menasha. The society had its beginnings on December 1, 1856 when nine men started the Concordia Society, with the purpose of helping the sick and burying the departed.  In 1862 a rival German organization was founded, the Menasha Turner Society.  In 1888 the two societies combined under the name of German Unterstuetzungs Verein. In 1927 the name was changed to the Germania Benevolent Society. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the facility had a life as an entertainment venue, calling itself an opera house for a time.  The clipping above is from the March 8, 1902 edition of the New York Dramatic Mirror, a show business style newspaper of the time.  This building on Chute Street was built in the 1860s and razed in 1963.

Steamboats

Early on, the rivers were the logical and most convenient means for moving people and goods across country.  However, many places along the river contained a drop where a rapids prevented boats from continuing on.  The boats had to be unloaded, with the cargo and boats portaged, or carried over land past the rapids, and then re-launched.  This proved to be a major inconvenience, costly in time and money.  The Fox River drops a total of 170 feet between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay, but with the development of the locks system in the 1850s and 60s, this made movement along the Fox River much easier and led to a golden age of steamboat travel.

“The Fox”(pictured) was built in 1892 and operated through 1900. This vessel is representative of the type of steamboat traveling up and down the Fox River and Lake Winnebago.

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.

 

Smith Park

In the 1890's, Menasha Wooden Ware founder Elisha D. Smith tried to attract Downer College, then located at Fox Lake, to move to Menasha. He was disappointed when the authorities decided to merge with Milwaukee Women's College and move to Milwaukee. Smith decided that the rejected 40 acres he had offered Downer should be offered instead to the City of Menasha to become a park. This donation was made in 1896 at about the same time as his offer to build the city a library. Ironically, many years later, Downer College merged with Lawrence University in Appleton.

The heavily wooded property was located between “The Avenue” (Nicolet Boulevard) and Cleveland, Keyes, and Park Streets.  Along with the land, Mr. Smith had a pavilion constructed to encourage use of the park. A pious man, he stipulated that there be a strict ban on alcohol, circuses, gambling, sports, and dangerous machinery at the park. Of course, this ban also included Sundays, except for religious activities and temperance meetings.  The designer of Chicago's Lincoln Park, Olaf Benson, was chosen to design the gardens and walks within the new park and when completed, it was the pride of Menasha. 

Over time, Menasha residents seem to hold dearest the many memories of the dances that were held over the years. 

To illustrate that, here’s an excerpt from 1999’s Memories of Doty Island : A Link Between Two Cities, edited by Caryl Chandler Herziger and Winifred Anderson Pawlowski:

In the 1930's an area teenager could go to three dances a week-Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday-from 7:00 to 11:00 P.M. at the Memorial Building. Boys and girls came from Appleton, Oshkosh, Omro, Winneconne (sometimes even from Green Bay) besides Menasha and Neenah. Occasionally, on a Friday night, there would be a school dance after a basketball or football game, but otherwise it was, "See you at the Mem!"

Everyone came early, paid the required nickel, went upstairs and had his or her hand stamped. By 7:30 the popular girls (the best dancers) already had every dance for the rest of the evening promised to someone. How they kept track of when each partner was to appear for his dance, no one knows, but it seemed to work out. Imagine remembering who you had the 16th dance with!!  Music was by records (with someone unknown running the machine) piped from downstairs. The Mem had a great dance floor, and the balcony doors were unlocked so anyone could go out there for a romantic moment or two. Or they could go down the steps and wander across a bridge onto the dark and secluded island. There was also a soda fountain on the first floor so thirst could be quenched, but no drinks were allowed upstairs.

About 10:30 some of the regular partners began to leave. It took a little while to get home-not via the shortest route, of course. The parents knew the dance was over at 11:00, so they allowed a reasonable time to get home after that. However, if a little ride or walk was in the minds of the young people, there would be extra time.

During the summer there was a park dance in the park pavilion every Monday. The dance floor was anything but smooth, but there was real live music! And very good music, too- not just some amateur, pick-up band. Tom Temple and Tony Winters were the next best thing to Tommy Dorsey or Glenn Miller.

Even if you weren't asked to dance, you could sit on a bench outside the pavilion and listen and talk with jealousy about the lucky ones who were "tripping the light fantastic." Maybe a non-dancing male would ask you to go for a walk into the darkness! Whatever you did that night was fun and gave the participants something to discuss until the next Monday. 

Menasha Hub and Spoke Factory

From: History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and Early History of the Northwest by Richard J. Harney (1880)

The Menasha hub, spoke, bending and general wagon and carriage stock factory of Webster and Lawson, was established in 1856, by A. J. Webster, the senior member of the firm, in a small way.

The original factory was a small building located on the dam, on the present site of the Coral Mills. Early in May of that year the high water carried away a portion of the dam, and also a part of the canal bank, leaving the embryo spoke factory cut off from the mainland, and without power to do anything; thus necessitating a removal to some other locality. There being no available building in Menasha, it was decided to remove to Neenah. The contents of the factory were, therefore, loaded on a small scow and towed to Neenah, where it remained but one year, doing a small and unsatisfactory business.   At the expiration of one year the machinery was moved from Neenah back to Menasha, into the Bowman Building, where it remained one year, when another break in the canal caused a suspension for the season. It was then moved into the large Williams building, in the fall of 1858.  Here it remained until the year 1861, when Mr. P. V. Lawson, who had been engaged in the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds, for some time, selling out his business, entered into a partnership with Mr. Webster, under the firm name of Webster and Lawson. During that year, the firm built, on the site now occupied by. their extensive works, a small factory, which was found to be inadequate to the wants of their increasing business, when additions were made to the buildings, and steam power added. 

The business continued to grow and extend, requiring enlarged manufacturing facilities. More land was, therefore, purchased, buildings erected, and new machinery put in the same.  The works have since then been enlarged, from time to time, until they now occupy some ten acres of ground, with extensive shipping-docks, storerooms, and railroad side-tracks.  This mammoth factory now employs throughout the year one hundred and seventy-five men, and manufactures 2,500,000 spokes, 120,000 hubs, 520,000 sawed felloes, 15,000 sets of bent felloes, and large quantities of shafts, poles, bows, sleigh and cutter material, and hard and soft wood lumber, aggregating a value of $175,000.  ("Felloes" is an Old English word that means the rim or a section of the rim of a wheel supported by spokes.)  The manufactures of the firm are widely known, being shipped over a wide extent of country, from New York to Oregon.   The material used is oak, hickory, ash, elm and maple, of which 6,ooo,ooo feet are required per annum to supply their works.  Their network of railroad side-tracks and shipping docks give every facility for shipment, both by land and water, and the business of the concern is conducted on the most systematic principles, by thoroughgoing and energetic business men.

Metropolitan Sample Rooms

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

The fine block shown in the accompanying cut is occupied by G.E. Heup’s Metropolitan Sample Rooms.  It was built in the early part of the ‘80’s by the late A. Belanger, who conducted a grocery store and saloon therein for several years.  On October 9, 1883, Mr. Belanger, who had closed out his grocery stock some time before, sold the saloon business to Mr. G.E. Heup, who for some years previously had been in charge of a sewing machine agency.  Mr. Heup adopted the name of Metropolitan Sample Rooms for his new place of business, and as such it is known to this day.  The Metropolitan is one of the finest establishments of its kind in the county.  Its bar fixtures are of the most expensive and attractive make; the rooms are finished in hardwood, and the furniture and decorations are in keeping with the general high character of the place.  Mr. Heup intends to still further improve it in the near future, and make it without a rival in the twin cities,  An unusually large stock of bulk liquors is carried- all of the highest grades and especially adapted for medicinal purposes.

Mr.  Heup’s sewing machine agency has grown with the passing years.  He handles the White, Davis, New Home, and other favorite brands and during the past eighteen years, has sole over 1,000 machines of various makes in this vicinity.  He is one of the most experienced and successful agents in these parts, and his dealings with the public have always been mutually satisfactory and pleasant. 

Mr. Heup was born in Milwaukee County in 1856 and located in Menasha twenty-six years ago.  He has a wife and three children – two sons and one daughter- and lives in the residence portion of the Belanger block, one door west of his place of business.

UPDATE:   There's been some interest as to where this business was located exactly and I should have determined this to begin with.  The Menasha city directory of 1895 says its address was 90 Main Street, between where today's Becher Electric and the old Brin would be. But in 1900, the address was listed as 213 Main Street which equates... to where the Twin City Bar was in 1967, across from the Menasha Hardware. In 1905, Heup's address was 144 Main Street. By 1910, Mr. Heup didn't appear anymore in the directory. Perhaps there was some renumbering of addresses on Main Street or Mr. Heup moved his business a lot. I'm pretty sure the photo equated to the original 90 Main Street address, as the text I quoted from was from an 1898 newspaper.

Resists Moisture!

At one time Marathon, a major manufacturer of pulp, paper, and paperboard, was the largest printer in the world and its extensive operations were spread over five states. The company was in a paper specialty field, which proved to be a wise choice; the business provided a stable demand. David C. Everest, CEO of Marathon for close to 47 years in the mid-twentieth century, and a man of colorful quotes, stated frequently that "people will quit the eatin' habit last."  Thus, bread wrappers, paper food containers, and wax paper were manufactured at plants in Menasha, Wausau and Ashland. 

"...Particularly strong in his opposition to vagrants...."

Daily Northwestern February 15, 1890

Roessler is Dead

Menasha's Marshal Expires

A Well Known Official Succumbs to Pneumonia at the Age of

Thirty-four years- Brief Illness- Biographical sketch.

Menasha, Wis., Feb. 15-  At two o'clock this morning occured the death of Marshall David Roessler.  Several days ago he was taken down with pneumonia, which, from the first, seemed to have a settled hold upon him.  He grew gradually worse until this morning when he passed away.  The flag is at half mast above the city hall and his death is deeply regretted by all who knew him.

David Roessler at death was thirty-four years of age.  He was born in this state and came to Menasha about thirteen years ago.  He was a man of powerful physique and exceptionally pleasant manners.  He had been marshal of Menasha for several years.  He was particularly strong in his opposition to vagrants and many of them speak of him as "the terror."  His duty was always faithfully performed.  He leaves a wife and five children.  He carried an insurance policy with the Modern Woodmen for $1,000, which not long since he wished to discontinue, but was persuaded by his friends to keep it a short time longer.  His funeral will be at one o'clock Monday from the Turner hall.  He will be buried at Oak hill.

Downtown Looking East

This 1940 photo shows a vibrant downtown Menasha in the spring or summer months.  The two girls riding their bikes in the center of the photo, while passersby converse on the street in front of the corner drug store, evokes a Norman Rockwell feel to a day gone by.  Is the aproned butcher/grocer crossing behind the bikers hurrying back to his shop to meet the Verifine ice cream man?  Or is he on another errand?  With America on the verge of World War II, the innocence of this photo is bittersweet.

Happy Independence Day!

Needless to say, a lot has changed since this 1943 parade in downtown Menasha, but despite my living elsewhere, Menasha is, was, and will always be my hometown. 

As Erma Bombeck once said, "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." 

Here's wishing you an overdose of patriotism today.  Happy 4th of July!

Chicago & North Western Railway

Built in 1892 in the Victorian Romanesque style, the Chicago and North Western railway station was strategically located on Doty Island, practically straddling the line between Menasha and Neenah. Notice the taxi, ready to take passengers to hotels in Menasha. The citizenry took pride in having a train depot larger than that of nearby Appleton or Oshkosh.  Passenger service at this depot lasted until the spring of 1971 when AMTRAK took over railroad passenger service and we lost our passenger rail connection to the world.